Evidence of Grace

My wife is pregnant, this is exciting news right? It is so much deeper than just the thought of bringing new life in to this world, it is evidence of grace that I never deserved but was given to me by a loving God.

If you know me, then I don’t need to explain the pits of depression and anxiety that I found myself in just 4 years ago. I don’t need to explain the anxiety that would hit so hard that I would fall unconscious from hyperventilation, I don’t need to explain the desires to die.

Today, just the opposite is true. I want to live, I am grateful for this life of abundance that I have been given. I have been redeemed from my sins that separated me from God by the blood of Jesus. My response is that of thanksgiving- gratitude.

-Selah -

I have an amazing godly wife who loves me, I have a relationship with my daughter and see God at work in her heart, and now I have been blessed with a child in the womb. God has counted me, although once an enemy, He still loved and loves and without a doubt in my my will continue to love. To Him be the glory for ever.

Hunger Week 2010

Life Connection Church kicked off our Hunger Week gathering last night at the building and I am again blown away by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Rising sound kicked off worship for the week and the spirit of worship was very evident quickly. I was so compelled to stand and offer every part of myself to God in view of His greatness, and drawn to my knees and facedown at the sight if my wickedness.

I was reminded that I was created for His glory and not my own, subsequently I have quenched the calling and gifts that were so graciously given to me, I have traded them for comfort, I have been lazy selfish and prideful. I have grown so comfortably numb that I could turn a blind eye to pain and suffering of humanity, as displayed in Haiti. I no longer want to quench these things, yet I want to burn and fan into flames the gift of God (2 Tim 1:6)
My convictions in this season are deep, I know that love is an action, and faith without deeds.. actually isn’t faith at all. So I am praying for sloth and pride to be ripped out, and torn from me. I am praying that the gospel is so deeply rooted inside of me that nothing else can come out of me.

The Movement

This is a perfect video to start this off.

The Movement from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

The Comeback Kid

Yup, I am resurrecting the blog from a two year sleep. I deleted some posts, I laughed at myself first. Seems to be a theme. Now i feel as though I have so much to say and spill out what God is doing in my life and the lives of those around me. I will rant, rave, hopefully encourage and deliver the word of God. Thanks for tuning in.

A note from Sho Baraka of Reach Records

A Man’s Gift Will Make Room for Him (Proverbs 18:16)

What a wonderful responsibility I have. I get to use one of my talents as a means to share GOD’s wonderful plan of salvation with the world. I also get to challenge and encourage believers to continue to see Jehovah for who he is. I get to hear amazing testimonies of how my music has encouraged young, old, black, white, believer and non-believer. Our heavenly father will never cease to amaze me with acts of grace and mercy.

I’m also amazed by the platform I have. I’ve had thousands listen to my every word, seeking hope, courage, strength and enlightenment. I’ve had numerous calls, emails, and personal conversations with leaders about how they’ve used my lyrics for devotionals and bible studies. I’ve taught many retreats, Sunday services, and seminars because brothers and sister in the Lord appreciate my music. As I wrote in Great Day II Die, “I see the young ones watching, yeah we role models/ I aint trippin cuz I saw the Role modeled”. Basically, I know that we’re admired because of the talents and positions we hold, but more importantly I hope we’re admired because of the way we reflect Christ-like character in our everyday life.

I say this because I’m very aware of the grace GOD bestows on your boy on a daily basis. I’m aware that I must watch my life and doctrine closely (1 Timothy 4:16). But if I had a chance to do it all over again, I would tell Reach “No, thank you.”

“WHAT! SHO, ARE YOU SERIOUS!”

“Do you know what I’d give to be down with Lecrae, T-dot, and Trip? Do you know what I would do to have the opportunity to have a national audience? You have the chance to share Christ with thousands of people, through a talent that you enjoy doing.”

And maybe this is problem number #1.

I know many of us have great motives, great hearts, and great plans for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know many of us have a form of service that we would love to use on a national level. We know the plans of a man seem right in his own eyes, but GOD weighs the motive (Proverbs 16:2).

To many of us seek to be rappers or (fill in the blank) when we should seek to be servants, by any means. Not “Lord I’ll serve you with rap or (fill in the blank) by any means, but Lord I’ll serve YOU by any means.” More than naught in the scriptures you find Jehovah choosing his servants for the task that he wants of them, not the other way around. (Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Everybody…To many to name.)

My Struggle

Before I became a Christian I had the opportunity to rub shoulders with very important secular artists, producers, and managers. I had a group that sought to become successful hip-hop stars. We got radio play in California and did tour dates with major artists. We thought we had made it. When those dreams fell apart I was crushed. My desire was fame and wealth. So as a growing Christian I knew I needed to guard against this by any means necessary. I meet Lecrae and Tedashii in 1998. I was around Reach before it had a single record. Some have asked why it took me so long to do a solo album. I was content with serving the Lord in the capacity He saw fit for me. I knew I couldn’t handle the wickedness of my heart. From Real Talk to Amped, I knew that Sho’s heart needed to be refined by the grace and word of the Lord. I had no problem seeing the Lord use my brothers, and see him not use me in the same fashion. But I continued to encourage and spur my brothers on to love and good deeds. I signed a one album deal as an attempt to combat any struggles that may arise. Question- do you have this same contentment with your talents? Know that if you do rap or (fill in the blank), GOD has not promised the extras like: distribution, fans, great production, websites, great reviews or shows. All that other stuff is the Lord’s grace towards us.

Some of my issues with our Service

1) Too many people desire a form of service like Rap (fill in the blank) without knowing the Responsibility. James tells us to not be eager to be teachers (James 3:1). Rappers are esteemed in many circles like prophets, teachers or pastors. They get this status without any formal training. This can be very dangerous. Cousins, if I get another Demo from a brother who is not living out the responsibility in the local church, I will scream! Be accountable to a church (Acts 2-4). Grow in love, submit to authority, study the scriptures, live in community, and serve outside of you natural talent.

2) Some cats use their talents for entertainment purposes. From my perspective that’s cool, however if you use your talent in a church, you need to exhort and encourage the body (Romans 12, Eph 5:18-21 and Col 3:16).

3) I have trouble being sanctified by my form of service. We need to put ourselves in positions of service where we are being sharpened by that service for the Lord’s glory. I need to die to my selfishness and fleshy desires on a daily basis. I want to be the best rapper. I want everyone to love my music. I want to hear great testimonies of how my music changes lives. I pray to the Lord that I may be content with the role I may play in the movement of Reach or this music movement as a whole. In whatever form of service you offer to the Lord, please do it on his terms not yours.

I have some questions for us to constantly check our heart.

1. If you had/have this platform, is you life worth modeling? Do you know biblical truths?
2. Are you being sanctified by your service?
3. If GOD stripped your form of service would your life still look like Romans 12:1?
4. Do you get jealous of others success or compare your service to others?
5. Do you find yourself promoting self more than the Gospel?
6. Do you want your name mentioned among the best in your form of service, and get frustrated when its not?
7. Are you under the authority and accountability of a local church?

Lets not look like Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:9-25). He had an amazing gift in the world. He was accustomed to getting applause from men. He became a believer and followed great men. When he saw their impact, he began to lust after their positions and gifts because he desired to have the same impact with people. He knew not the true meaning of service or the true use for gifting. And that’s to edify the body.

-Sho Baraka

Laughing at myself

I have been wrestling and beat down latey.  This economy has got me so down that I was actually considering moving to Texas within the next month or so. I am SO THANKFUL that God broke me sweetly and showed me how rediculous I have been. Pastor Tim Dailey gave an amazing message on Saturday night about purging Egypt out of ourselves and it was then that he spoke to me, as clear as day and said that I will never fulfil my calling if I dont do what he commands, and gave me a vision of me living out the internship and an overwhelming sense of peace came over me right then. Praise God!! Thank you so much!

The next day after service, Pastor Tim and Steve Mills layed hands on us and prayed over us. I was deemed a big teddy bear by Steve and the Pilsberry Dough Boy by Pastor Tim… I am meant to remain soft on the inside. Encourger- spirit of Barnabus. This is my role to the fellow interns. I am so stoked right now. Even though I am still broke and strugglin, I know that I am right where I am supposed to be and there is no more of a peaceful feeling in the world.

enjoy

This is my blog, I do what I want. now enjoy a little hip hop in your life

 

Phillipians

My connection group reads obviously, we like to read the same scripture throughout the week to keep us all in tune and decipher what the word means and what we got from it. The fist book we did as a group was Phillipians.

First of all, Paul wrote this letter while imprisoned. He was probably deprived of most all things including hygenal neccessities and was probably ill. In this state of deprevity, he still proclaims his work as fruitful labor. His chains have served in advancing the gospel by declaration to the world that Paul was put in chains for Christ, in turn giving fellow brothers in Christ the cahones to speak the word of God without fear. Pauls chains sparked a chain reaction (no pun intended) that has not stopped yet, not with us and not with any of our disciples.

Phillipians 1:21 – “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”

See Paul definately has the heart of Christ. He finds his encouragement from being united in the heart of Christ and fellowship with the spirit, in order for him to not only endure in these sufferings but actually rejoice in these, he must reamin completely like-minded and spirited with him. This is something that i want to take with me through every hard time I endure…. If I am truly sanctified in the spirit of the Lord and share in the heart of Christ… then what shall I really fear? What is it that I really need? Death only becomes safety in Gods kingdom and away from the sinful nature and temptations that this world has to offer. However, so long as I am alive here, it is for a reason… to fulfill a destiny that God has set for me. To share with others what the Lord has shown me.  To speak life into the walking dead, and unplugging them from the matrix.

Paul viewed all things lost as straight up garbage and not neccessary. What he sought after was not anything this world can offer. Phillipans 3:10-11 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead”

WHAT!!?? He wants to experience what Jesus did in suffering to the point of death. Who today have you heard that WANTS to experience pain and suffering for Jesus, we all want just the opposite. We seek after blessings and life of abundance. We fall to our knees and beg for the Lord to lift our woes and carry us through. We sing songs and write poems to him, begging and pleaing for a rescue from the pain and struggle. Paul is SICK, a mans man for sure. I will be taking this mentality with me when I think things are going so bad. WHAT NOW DEVIL!!??

Welcome to MY thoughts…

What it is… I have not been invited to the church’s “circle” of blogs, but God told me to start one so WHAT NOW DEVIL?  I am going to write about truths, lies, victories and defeats, scripture and revelations and how gorgeous Pastor Aaron looks every sunday. I hope atleast one person reads and please make it a point to respond, good or bad.

I want to start right here with a story about a close friend that I served with in the military who I spoke to today for the first time in about a year. Now alot has gone down in my life in the last year, including being set free from chains of bondage and being fed the antidote for these things that have kept me a walking zombie in this world, in other words i was saved by Gods grace and made a new creation. So in catching up on life with this friend of mine, I realize that he is lost and searching for something. He searches to fill this void in his life with alchohol to rediculous extremes. This issue has broken sevral relationships in his life and kept him a slave to his flesh. He has been in and out of AA for a few years but it never seems to work. He tells me that everytime things go down or up, he is reaching for the bottle, he knows hes wrong for doing it but cant find the strength to stop. Again with the broken relationships and bridges burned by the man he becomes when he is drunk, every bridge burned causes another binge…. it’s a horrible cycle to watch a friend of mine, a brother that i went to war with go through. He called me at a breaking point…. hes searching and crying out. I definately dont believe in coincidence,  he called me crying out for a reason. I believe that God led his fingers to dialing my number although he doesnt know God. I shared a little testimony about whats been happening in my life and how hard, yet amazing my life has been in the time between our last conversation. I gave him scripture, I told him to read Galatians 5:16-26 and Jose and myself prayed for him over the phone. He broke, snapped like a skinny dried twig, he was emptied right there. I should mention that he is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs about 220 and I have never seen a hint of emotion like this. He was straight up weeping. He was crying, explaining to me how good it felt to let it out and how it burned at the same time… he proceeded to tell me that he hasnt cried in years, not through his divorce, not after seperating from his child and not through the military. This goes to show the strength of our God and his perfect plan. Thank you so much God for giving me the opportunity to speak life into a dead man that I love like a brother. Be with him and reveal yourself to him.