Unashamed 1 1 6

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16

I went to the 116 Unashamed concert yesterday night in Chicago at the Moody Bible Institute (my grandma’s alma mater heeyy).

To sum up the concert --> Off. The. Chain.

The group I went with (African Christian Fellowship, Verbill Punishment COL, Spoken Life Project and friends) had front row seats after waiting in line for hours. And I happily joined them during their last hour of waiting. :-) It was worth it! Shout out to Jerry and Preston for getting the tickets before the show sold out in October!

While we were waiting in line and we had a couple Christ cyphas and made some new friends “Give the Lord Praise, Give the Lord Praise Hey!”

The doors finally opened and people rushed the auditorium. An auditorium full of believers of every race Romans 1:16’in it. The attendees were so diverse, but we were color blind. It was also a mini reunion, you just run into different people you grew up with, or went to school with.

And just as we were about to get the program started, Satan busted the generator! The devil is such a liar. {but why?} Can we just pray for him? I’ve seriously been thinking about that; that would solve everything. Anyways, everyone stopped taking pictures, catching up, etc. and just started praying. In 10-15 minutes God handled that little issue and we were ready to get the party started.

And it begins; there we were front and center, in spitting distance. Everyone [EVERYONE!] was so on fire. All the ministers (Pro, Tedashi, Sho Baraka, Trip Lee, Lecrae, DJ Official, the drummer, the spoken word artist/missionary - Nehemiah?) had great energy and stage presence. We were on our feet from beginning to end, dancing, and singing, praising and worshiping, with our pride on low and our faith on HIGH, L’s in the sky, listening to this Jesus Muzik! If only church could be like that everyday! I can’t even imagine what heaven will be like. I have never had that much fun at a concert. This definitely tops the list of events I’ve been to in life. That’s because it was not just a gathering of people having a good time. It had a message.

We have to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in us. The moment we received our salvation, we joined the winning camp. However, Satan was crouching at our door, at that very instant, no one is exempt. But we must rule over it. Nevertheless, we’re all missionaries, we need to not be ashamed of the gospel when we’re out in the world! Unashamed!

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it! Genesis 4:7

This one goes down in the books. I’m so on high, {Faith High} I can’t wait for the next opportunity to do that at onething next month.

One thing I really appreciated is that the ministers made sure to make known that this singing, dancing, praising, worshiping was not about them. “I always pray that Lord, You would John 3:30 your boy!” – Lecrae. That He may increase and I may decrease. {Listen to the Background song below}

Some of my 3 snaps moments:

• They’re trying to save whales and kill babies. {come on!}
• Even on our best day we are still filthy rags.{whoa! So true. chew on that.}
• When I get backstage, I’m a drink a COLD bottle of water, when I get home, I’m a take a HOT shower. No one wants lukewarm water. (Revelation 3:16 - or you will get Spit out!!) {THIS!}
• We’re all missionaries, we don’t necessarily need to go overseas. We need the missional mindset everyday. {<-----Say that!!}
• [lights off, total silence] If we didn’t get the generator fixed, this room would have been like this. . . You know what, the world outside of this auditorium is dark like this. {wooo message!}

As much as I loved that utopia feeling: being around hundreds of believers just praising the Lord in a beautiful world that the Lord intended, The world is dark and ugly.

What are we doing about it?

As children of the light, we need to infect and brighten this dark world daily. Talk is cheap. Yet, talk without actions will be very expensive. Because everyone owes a huge debt to our Maker! Some of us have realized that it’s been paid off. {count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11 - so go ahead an bury me!!} Yet many people don't understand that yet. If we’re just talking about it amongst ourselves and not getting other people to sign up then their blood is on our hands.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood. Ezekiel 33:6

• I wonder how many of my facebook-friends are not Christian. 
• I wonder how many of my friend-friends are not Christian. 
• I wonder how many people I know and see on a daily basis, do not have Heaven as their intended final destination right now. 
• I wonder if more people will be in heaven or in hell and what are we doing about that ratio. 
• More importantly, where do we fit in the equation? 

Time to stop wondering!

America, Chicago, our neighborhoods are overdue for a revival! I pray that every Christian, myself included, will fearlessly profess His name everywhere we go.

Pray  . . . that whenever [we] speak, words may be given [to us] so that [we] will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6:19

Another shout out to Moody Bible Institute and Ashanti Pettaway & team for putting this event together.

Okay I’m still so on fire from the whole weekend! I’m so glad I decided to be spontaneous and take that half-day trip up to Chicago for it. Cheers to many more times like this! *cheers*