The Hellishness of Unrepentance

As believers enjoy, through communion with the Triune God, something of a foretaste of heaven in their earthly pilgrimage. Unbelievers also know something of Hell in their experience in this life.

"...look upon a man quite forsaken of God in hell; there you may see,as in a lively looking glass, what every man living is when the Lord leaves him; he can blaspheme God but cannot love him; he can despise God but cannot esteem him; he can wish that there were no God to punish him but he cannot submit unto God,"
- Thomas Shepherd

So every ounce of unrepentance is an ounce of hell. It is a precursorof what is to come for those who refuse to repent and obey the gospelof the Lord Jesus. Repentance then, is a foretaste of heaven as we begin, even now, to ejnoy, delight in, and relish something of the Divine life inour earthly existence. So let us, in our daily lives, cast off what-ever scent of sulfur remains and seek to give off a hint of heaven in the way we carry ourselves in this world.

grace&peace,
pastor j

An Attempt...

...to put into lyrical form the essence of what we are trying to accomplish with the underground church ministry:


We're bringin' truth to the table
but they already ate
Feastin' on hood lies
and they're scrapin their plates

So when they're placed on the scale
they ain't makin' the weight
cause' when it comes to God's judgment
ain't no fakin your way

and soon'll come the day
when they'll be taken away
without faith in Christ
they'll be flamin' away

so we're here on the mics
with Truth blazin today
yea, lyrics and eloquence
plus subtance and relevance

we're jumpin on hip-hop
and hi-jackin the elements
underground church
break it down to the sediments

to build a foundation
where Christ is preemminent
yo, peep the extent of it
man, theres no end to it

so we're thru with the rhetoric
chose truth instead of it
dig in the script
then preach what we read in it

to help you face the truth,
the Scriptures reveal him
full of grace and truth
but his peeps didn't feel him

they put him on a cross
and like that, man they killed him
...3 days later, he's
BACK IN THE BUILDIN'

packin out buildin's
praised by the millions -
with truth on the menu
for the church that he's buildin'

Race and Redemption

In Eph 3.10 Paul tells us that the church is a display of the "manifold wisdom of God."

"The compound adjective meaning 'manifold, variegated, very many sided' was poetic in origin referring to an intricately woven pattern of 'many-coloured cloaks' or the manifold hues of a 'garland of flowers.' It is used here in a figurative sense to speak of the richly diversified nature of divine wisdom." (O'brien, Ephesians, 245).

In Eph 2.11 - 22 it is clear that the Christ has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles and effected a reconciliation between ethnicities and cultures. So then, the 'manifold wisdom of God' includes, amongst other things, a multi-racial, multi-cultural community being united as fellow-members in the body of Christ.

What are some challenges we face in manifesting this reality of God's wisdom in our lives, relationships, ministries and churches? What could some solutions be?