G.O.S.P.E.L. - Softcover

Horton, D. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802405894 ISBN 13: 9780802405890

Publisher: Moody Publishers, 2012

Synopsis

<div><p><b>The gospel according to hip hop</b></p><p>The fusion of the Christian community and hip-hop culture is very real, very significant, and&#8212;sadly&#8212;very incomplete. While Christian themes and concepts are prevalent among the listeners of Christian hip hop, it often comes with little theological depth beyond a 3-minute rhyme. The lyrics are meaningful, but that meaning escapes the majority of its audience.</p><p>To fill this critical gap of understanding, Pastor D. A. Horton (aka hip-hop artist Azriel) has written <i>G.O.S.P.E.L.</i> In the language of hip hop and with the crystal-clear power of Scripture, it is a sound and compelling presentation of the life-changing truth many professing believers fail to fully grasp: the gospel. Undiluted. Unmistakable. Unstoppable.<br></p></div>

About this title

About the Author

<div><b>D.A. HORTON</b> currently serves on staff at Summit Church in Durham, NC while he and his family are preparing to plant a church in Los Angeles. Prior to his current role he served as an urban church planter, pastor, and Lead Teaching Elder in Kansas City, MO for nearly six years; a National Coordinator of Urban Student Ministries and the Urban Initiatives Team at the North American Mission Board (NAMB); and the Executive Director at ReachLife Ministries, the non-profit arm of Reach Records. D.A. is currently working on his Ph.D. at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Applied Theology with a North American emphasis. With a heart to provide local churches with quality Bible-centered tools and resources for evangelism and discipleship, D.A. wrote two books: <i>G.O.S.P.E.L.</i> and <i>DNA: Foundations of the Faith</i> both published by Moody Publishers. His third book, <i>Bound to Be Free: Escaping Performance to be Captured by Grace</i> will be released through NavPress in spring 2016. He and his wife Elicia have two daughters, Izabelle and Lola and one son, D.A. Jr. (aka Duce).</div>

From the Back Cover

<div>&#8220;Your final destination can be with God, living in the City He has created for all those who have taken His plea bargain. This city will be populated by men and women from various cultures, ethnicities, and social classes. God desires to put His power on display by saving you. So my question for you is, will you accept or reject His offer?&#8221;<br>&#8211;D. A.<br></div>

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

G.O.S.P.E.L.

By D. A. HORTON

MOODY PUBLISHERS

Copyright © 2012 D. A. Horton
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8024-0589-0

Contents

Introduction: The Gospel for Our Cities.....................91. The Need for the Gospel..................................192. G—God's Image......................................243. O—Open Fellowship..................................304. S—Sin Introduced...................................365. P—Penalty and Price................................426. E—Enter Jesus......................................497. L—Life Everlasting.................................558. What Now?................................................60Thebonical Glossary.........................................71

Chapter One

The Need for the Gospel

Recently I was asked to minister, through preaching and Gospel-centered rap, to a group of teens from the south side of Kansas City's urban core. Toward the end of my sermon, I asked how many of them had been saved by Jesus. Immediately, with all confidence, forty-plus hands were thrown up as if I just asked who wanted free money. Their response led to my second question, What is the Gospel? Their hands went down just as quickly as they rose, and puzzled looks of confusion began to cover every face in the auditorium.

Keeping their attention, I immediately asked how long each of them had been in church and how long they have been saved. Students at once began to shout out, "I've been in church and saved since I was born," and "I've been saved since I was two, and that's when I started coming to church." As the conversation picked up momentum, a change took place that was evident by the puzzled looks that jumped off their faces and onto mine, making room for them to rock a confidence that would humble Kanye West.

As my heart grieved, I silently asked God to help me bring clarity to these precious young people by providing me with an illustration to share with them that would hit home. To God's glory, He answered my prayer immediately. As the students sat there assured of themselves, I asked them a question that would begin to expose the harsh reality they were failing to see. I gripped the microphone tightly, brought it close to my lips, and asked, "How long has Young Money been around?" With continued confidence, the students shouted, "two to two-and-a-half-years." I then asked the students to name all the rappers on Young Money, and with joy students began to look at each other with competition in their eyes. Each student tried to outshout everyone else in the auditorium with the names of tappers on Young Money, such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Cory Gunz, Gudda Gudda, Jae Mills, Lil Chuckee, and Lil Twist.

Their ability to quickly rattle off so many names prompted me to step in and make my point. I put the microphone back up to my lips. "Okay, okay, I see you," and the students all began to laugh. However, their laughter soon turned to embarrassment as I gently exposed them to the reality they failed to see. I quieted them down and broke the silence by softly saying, "You mean to tell me that you all claim to know Jesus as your Savior, you have been in church for all of your lives, and you cannot tell me the one message God has declared to be the power of salvation to the sinner—yet you can rattle off every rapper on Young Money who has only been out for a few years?" A hush of disbelief fell on everyone in the room!

Two weeks later I was privileged to minister through preaching and Gospel-centered rap at a fall conference for youth from a solid suburban church in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. When asked if they knew the Gospel, their response was the exact opposite of the urban youth. Most of them were able to communicate the Gospel, and it was at this point I realized the problem: the urban students could not communicate the Gospel because they did not understand the Gospel, even though they belong to a church that faithfully preaches the Gospel. I know both youth pastors personally, and know they communicate the Gospel to their youth, yet the suburban church has a greater success rate than the urban church when it comes to students actually knowing and spillin' the Gospel.

This begs the question: Why?

I didn't realize it at the time, but a young, urban, teenage girl at the Kansas City event answered my question when she bluntly said, "Tonight when you preached the message, it was the first time I ever understood what Jesus did for me. Thank you! "The message I shared that night was broken down into bite-size pieces with illustrations to which urban students could relate. The message I shared that night was the GOSPEL, the six-part message of good news that follows in chapters 2–7.

A GOSPEL Rap

"THE NEED"

Hook:

My whole life has been unfair/I go thru the motions but am not there Life's passed by, I'm so distant/I want to stop existing and finally start living.

You said I could go to you. How can I get close to you? What am I supposed to do—to believe in what I know is true? Please tell me what I need, tell me, tell me, tell me what I need. (2x)

Verse 1:

I'ma put you up on game, show you yo deficiency. I know that you wanna change, from the hopeless misery. I know that you cope with pain, drinking Coke & Hennessey, And smoking thangs that blow ya brain, if that's you, yo come get wit me.

What I got's not what ya want, but I know it's what you need. The Gospel is yo medicine, prescription for yo disease— A disease that we all had since our conception. The Gospel message "Ushers" in "these are my confessions."

I'm open air yellin', wake up this life ain't "just a dream" That ends with frostbite, from all of our custom bling. Salvation's call's God's VIP custom ring That will have ya screaming "OMG" like when "Usher" sings.

Verse 2:

You would think that in the church all our people got it all, Not all, when the Gospel's defined as the altar call. Somebody tell these pastors ain't nut'n funny When our kids despise Christ, but idolize Young Money.

Our Kids praise grills, chase thrills, takin' pain pills Shorty, the Gospel is the flood warnin', Jae Mills. The Gospel's an offense, it murders yo' feelings So God will blow the roof off ya dome, no ceilings.

I used to live a life darker than whisky in bars Then the Light of Christ shined right thru me, Nicki Minaj. I spit the Gospel to the elderly and Ill kids; It's the best kept "little secret" wit a "Ill twist."

Verse 3:

Ya pain is so intense ya cut yaself to relieve hurt Ya searched for joy, can't find it, look again, ... research. Christ went to the cross for our joy's sake, So we'd never be "so far gone" like that boy Drake.

He took the punishment for all ya sin, like He did it Forgiveness He wit it, accept Him wit Glee like Eve—get it? I just gave ya the Gospel, can ya dig now? Get a life & chuck ya deuces to the world, Chris Brown.

Chapter Two

G— God's Image

All of us have asked the questions "Why am I here?" and "Does my life really mean anything?" Every day we look to people, places, and things other than God to answer these questions because we feel like God is so far away from us. He seems so far away from our struggles and from our pain that He can't answer us, and even if He did, how could we hear Him through all the sirens, screaming, gunshots, and trunk-rattling bass?

The truth that we fail to realize daily is that God understands the struggles we face because He is the one who created us. When God created the first man, Adam, He made him in His image. Let's chop it up about the creation of Adam for a second. The first thing you need to realize is that he was the physical father of all humans on the planet who have ever lived, are living, and will ever live. When God created Adam, He gave him certain characteristics that He didn't give to any other type of creation, such as animals, insects, plants, all of nature, and everything else in the universe.

Genesis 1:26–27 says, "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

The word image in this Scripture does not speak of a physical image or a body, but rather the nonphysical qualities that God chose to give only to humans, with limitations. Some of these qualities include emotions that are displayed through our personalities, the ability to make reasonable decisions, a basic knowledge of right from wrong, and a living spirit. John 4:24 tells us, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." This Scripture puts us up on game to the fact that not only is God a spirit without a physical body, but that humans have been given the desire and ability to worship God because we have been given a spirit like His.

This is the perfect time to explain how God put limitations on the qualities He gave us, and we'll use the example of our spirit. The Bible clearly tells us in Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created," proving that God is not a created being and He demonstrated this to us by creating all of creation. God created us; we were made in the image of God, meaning He gave us a spirit that began to exist when we were conceived in our mother's womb, and our spirit will continue to exist after our flesh dies. Even though we will continue to exist after death, we are not like God because we are limited by having a starting point to our life, and God does not because He has always existed. This is often overlooked because many people don't take the time to understand the biblical meaning of being made in the image of God.

When we try to make the word image in Genesis 1:26-27 mean a physical body, we buy into the lie that humans are either equal with God, or are a lower-class of gods, because we are His replicas. It's kind of like rockin' a jersey of your favorite sports team. Since I'm a Kansas City Chiefs fan—don't hate—I often show love for my Chiefs by wearing either my throwback jersey or my replica jersey. But real talk, even if I rock an authentic throwback jersey with the letters "Dawson" stitched on the back, or if I rock a modern replica jersey with "Johnson" on the back, is that neither jersey can transform me into Hall of Fame Quarterback Len Dawson or Pro-Bowl Linebacker Derrick Johnson. Rockin' a jersey only shows that I'm representing the team I love and the players I respect, not replicating them.

In a similar way, being made in the image of God does not mean that we are equal with God or even His little clones. Rather, each day as we live, rockin' the image of God, we have the opportunity to represent Him by following His command of reproducing and ruling that's found in Genesis 2.

Before we move on, let's recap. God created man in His image so that man could represent Him by reproducing and ruling over creation. Being created in God's image does not make man a god any more than rocking a throwback makes me a professional football player. Now that we got this point straight, let's move on to the next one.

A GOSPEL Rap

"GOD'S IMAGE"

Hook: We was made for representin' Him (3x)—Are ya representin Him? (I represent, I represent)

Verse 1

I know You be like ... Can God know my struggle (know my struggle)? Can He feel my pain (feel my pain)? If I was born to hustle, Tell me, how I run a differ'nt lane? This is all I know ... All I know is I'ma do me, Straight grind, take mine, Spray nines and Uzis.

I be like ... Yea, He knows ya struggle (knows ya struggle) and knows ya pain (knows ya pain). [He]created you for a purpose, God even knows ya name. Made in His image, hold up let me set it straight. [we were] Made for representin' Him; don't try to replicate.

We ain't God, even tho we made in God's image. He's infinite, we finite, meaning that we got limits. He shared with us some of His qualities; know that Daily we rock these qualities like a throwback.

Verse 2

I know You be like ... If I was made by God.... tell me where all my power is! Every time I wanna do right, it's like I'm powerless. Now I just keep fallin' and I don't even care no mo (more) [there's] Too many strikes against me, I can't even bear no mo (more).

I be like ... Just like you know the bass in this beat is nice and strong, God put inside us [the ability] to know right from wrong. He gave us the desire to get to know Him; Problem is that our sin separates us and we don't know Him.

We was made to obey and be producers, not consumers. Sin is serious, our Kevin Hart's mock in humor; But when we're wronged, we seek revenge like Montezuma Then surround ourselves with those who give us praise like "Hallelujah."

Verse 3

I Know You be like ... Tell me who is God, tell me why was I born here. Tell me why I got scars and why my heart is torn here. If He do exist, tell me why I always feel alone? Do He know I got hate in my heart that's deep like a Killa's jones?

I be like ... God is Father, God the Son, and God Holy Spirit Acts 17 He made you in a placed to get to know these lyrics. You bear the scars of sin in ya life from top to bottom But God is sovereign, He alone can absolve them.

Real talk He exists, it's ya sin that's separating Him You can't relate to Him, because ya heart relates to sin! You know ya hate within, and yes it's blatant sin, He can forgive it, Christ died in ya place for sin.

Chapter Three

O— Open Fellowship

Genesis 2:7-25 gives us more detail about the creation of man and his automatic fellowship with God. Fellowship is another word that describes a relationship to someone or something. It carries the idea of being connected to someone because of what we have in common.

On the streets, when cats are seriously movin' weight, unless they are smugglin' in their product themselves, they are connected to suppliers who provide them with product to sell. Dealers will have the benefit of being supplied with product as long as they keep to the laws suppliers normally hit them off with: move the product, and if a dealer ever gets pinched, he/she is to never rat out the supplier. The supplier and dealer are connected with the common interest of making money, which is what brought them together in fellowship. If the dealer breaks just one of these laws the supplier has set up, the result will normally end in the death of the dealer.

Such fellowship among drug traffickers makes us wince, mainly because the city—like the suburbs and now even rural areas of many states—has criminals who form their camarderie based on breaking civil laws and God's law. In contrast, we read that in the beginning everything God created was good, meaning there was no evil present in the world (Genesis 1:31). It's hard to imagine, but it's the reality of how holy God is. Since Adam was created by God, he too was without sin and had no knowledge of wrongdoing.

The easiest way to describe sin is simply breaking God's law. Adam and Eve were both connected to God and would remain connected as long as they both obeyed the laws God gave them for their good. In Genesis 1-2, God clearly outlines the law for Adam to obey: be fruitful and multiply, tend the garden of Eden, and eat fruit from any tree except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Sounds simple, right? As long as Adam and Eve obeyed God's laws, they would enjoy open fellowship and remain connected to God. However, if one or both of them broke God's laws, their fellowship with God would be closed and their loss of access to a supply of spiritual life would start a countdown to their physical death. So the common interest that God, Adam, and Eve all shared was the reality that the created man and woman were not guilty of breaking any laws and were, at that time, without sin. Therefore they had open fellowship with God, the Creator.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from G.O.S.P.E.L.by D. A. HORTON Copyright © 2012 by D. A. Horton. Excerpted by permission of MOODY PUBLISHERS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0802405894
• ISBN 13: 9780802405890
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 80