Expository Rapping Intro article

I'm sure that most of you have heard the term 'expository preaching' and maybe heard Shai Linnes 'Expositional Preaching' in Lamp Mode Recordings album 'The Church'. To help you clearly understand what this I'm going to break down what this means in simple English. Expository preaching is all about getting into a text in the Bible by exegetical and hermeneutical means. Its about exposing a text and getting truth from it. I'll break this down further at another time.

Just like 'expository preaching', I like to bring out a similar objective when writing my rhymes, hence the word 'expository rapping' which aims to get truth out of a text or topic that will always point the hearer to Christ. 


Over the next few weeks I will break down the components of what 'expository rapping' is about, today I will bring out the fundamental element that both expository rapping and preaching should both have.


The fundamental element that both of these expository works should have is a theocentric (God centered) and cross centered foundation. If this foundation is not set we would fail to glorify God in what we do if He is not at the center of all we do. This foundation is built by getting to know who God is and what He asks of us, this is done by getting into the word of God and getting it in you. The Word of God (The Bible) is the means God uses to communicate  to His people, it is through this means that we get to know Him and know His commandments to us.

The cross is where true Christianity stems from, if we lose sight of it we lose sight of what Christianity is all about. Expository rapping and preaching aims to get truth, without a theocentric and crosscentric foundation, there will be no truth.

I will further get into this in the 2nd article on expository rapping. 

Grace and Peace,

Exposition 





Here are the lyrics of Shai Linnes track on expositional preaching,

Verse 1
With our raps we adore our Master and Lord
Jesus Christ who deserves all our claps and applause
For the wrath that he bore
At the cross for our blasphemous thoughts and the classless acts of a whore!
He gave up His life with a passionate roar
Was raised up to heights where He sat at before
After this all he gave Pastors the call to ministry found in Second Timothy chapter 4
Verse 1 and 2, what I first wanna do is come to you the church to reverse a funny view
So let me ask a question: What’s most essential, what is it that gives a local church its potential?
Some would say, ‘Music’, some would say, ‘Deacons’
Other say, ‘Reaching the lost and soul seeking’
But if we wanna give God the glory in our meetin’s
The most important thing is: Expository Preaching!

Chorus 1
Where are the Whitfields? Where are the Spurgeons?
To preach the word, to preach the word
We sound theology to deal with reality
Preach the word, so preach the word
We’ve got enough rappers we need more pastors
To preach the word, to preach the word
We need explanation and deep application
Preach the word, so preach the word

This verse right here is for the congregation
It’s whatcy’all need to be listening for

 Verse 2
Let me explain what I mean, it’s not too complex
It’s preaching God’s Word in its proper context
As you listen be discerning, what you have to determine: Was the point of the passage the point of the sermon?
If not this problem must be confronted today ‘cos he just used the bible to say what he wanted to say (what?!)
And even if it’s delivered with fire and intelligence that’s basically making what God has inspired irrelevant
Instead of applying the Word’s realities a lot of Pastors are relying on personality
But gifts of communication can never be a true replacement for the Holy Spirit’s illumination
Without exposition you’ll lack major profit, all you’ll get is tradition and your Pastor’s favourite topics
And that can be a slippery slope, the Word should be giving you hope, this dude is just giving you jokes
That won’t help you love Christ, it won’t help your obedience
We need more expositors, not more comedians (that’s right!)
Expect for true labour in the text then faithfully connecting to the Saviour, then wait for its effects

God gives the increase: holiness, love, unity. The Word faithfully preached builds up the whole community
If not, your Sunday meal will not last and you’ll have to supplement it with the Podcast

Chorus 2
Don’t entertain us, that won’t sustain us
Preach the Word, so preach the Word
Careful instruction, not a big production
Preach the Word, so preach the Word
We don’t need theatrics or man centred tactics
Preach the Word, so preach the Word
We’re on the brink of eternity, so please speak earnestly
Preach the Word, so preach the Word

This verse here is for the Pastors, I just wanna encourage y’all

Verse 3
Y’all should be mindful of this devout thesis: all of the Bible is about Jesus!
The Old Testament: Jesus Christ concealed
The New Testament: Jesus Christ revealed!
This truth of the Lord Christ boldly conveyed this in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus
The Law, the Prophets and the teachings of Apostles: all of these point back to Jesus and the Gospel
So if the words of Christ is what the Word is about ultimately that should be what the sermon’s about (true!)
Forget applause you gotta let the Cross rock ya
All roads in the Bible lead to Golgotha
Whatever the text faithfulness demands that we should hear the echo of nails hitting His hands
Don’t try to be original, say the old story
And watch your people change as they behold glory

Chorus 3
The glory of Jesus we need to see this
Preach the Word, so preach the Word
Make Christ the centre so new life can enter
Preach the Word, so preach the Word
Give us the whole counsel along with the Gospel
Preach the Word, so preach the Word
This is your duty: to show us God’s beauty
Preach the Word, so preach the Word!
So that’s it man, that’s the charge in Second Timothy chapter 4
Paul tells Timothy, he charges him, to preach the Word
And yo, there’s a lot of good resources out there
Spirit Empowered Preaching, by my man Arturo Azurdia
Christ-Centred Preaching, by Bryan Chapell
The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper
Get these resources
More than anything: dig into the Word of God, meditate on it and give it to your people.
Grace and Peace.

I AM A CHRISTIAN

I am a Christian,

My hope of salvation is found in Christ alone,

He is the only way, the truth and the light.

It is not obedience of the law that will make me stand blameless before God,

Neither is it the good works that I have done,

For to God, it is like filthy rags.

I am a Christian,

I am not worried about what will happen to me when I die,

For Christ has ransomed me from the power of the grave,

He has redeemed me from death,

Death has been swallowed up in victory,

Death has lost its sting

Hell has lost its victory! (1 Corinthians 15: 55; Hosea 13:14)

I am a Christian,

I am not haunted by my past,

All the wicked and most dreadful things I did,

Christ has taken them away, to the effect that, though they are as red as crimson he made them white as snow.

And my secret sin, the things I was once ashamed of,

Christ has taken; I am a new creation,

All my old things have passed away and He has made me new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I am a Christian,

I no longer stand condemned before God,

Because I am in Christ,

The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death,

For the law simply condemned, it was like a mirror, showing me how wicked I am, how I fail to reach the standard of God and the Penalty of eternal damnation that awaited me, it failed to save me.

Yet God full of love sent his son to pay my punishment that I may simply come and confess and he would forgive me.

I am a Christian,

Christ has sprinkled clean water on me and made me clean,

He cleansed me from all my impurities and all my idols,

He gave me a new heart and a new spirit,

He removed my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh,

He put His Spirit in me and moves me to follow his decrees and to keep his law.

(Ezekiel 36:25-27).

I am a Christian,

Christ lifted me out of the slimy pit,

Out of the mud and mire;

He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth; a hymn of praise to God...

Are you a Christian?

Have you come to Christ and laid all your sin at his feet?

Do you have the assurance of salvation?

Come to him his hands are wide open to you....

By Elina Nawingwa

Reflections on the future of the Church

Sometimes I wonder what kind of Church we will have when the current generation of young people take up leadership roles. I wonder whether we will have a great spiritual impact on society. I wonder whether we will plant many churches and whether they will have godly leaders. All these things are possible because nothing is too hard for the Lord and yet we also know from history that there have been times when the Church has been very weak. There is also the possibility that the glory of the Lord can depart from His people.

Some say it is not for us to bother about the future of the Church because the Lord is in control. My concern is not about whether or not He will prove Himself faithful. Rather, it is about whether the current generation is concerned enough about the spread of the gospel and righteous living. Perhaps at the back of the mind of the average young Christian is the thought, “if I become too serious about Church Life now I will miss out on things that I should be enjoying as a young person and my life will become boring. I will become more committed when I grow older.” I cannot think of words that are strong enough to show how wrong such thinking is. As we grow older we have more responsibilities which compete with the time that we would want to spend in service to the Lord.

 

There is also the fact that as we grow older our bodies become weaker and prone to illness. Should you give your greatest energy to all your other pursuits and then come to God to serve Him when you can hardly see or hear and have very little energy? Is that not equivalent to offering a lame or diseased animal to the Lord (Malachi 1: 7-8)? Consider also that if one does not have a habit of praying and reading the Bible when they are younger how do they expect to develop such a habit when they are older?

When a young person thinks that becoming more involved in service to God is boring we have to ask such a person what they think about God Himself. We have to ask where such a person draws their inspiration for life from and what matters the most in their lives. I fear, for myself as well, that many of us, at the rate we are going, will either become too busy for God and His Church and more excited about other pursuits in life than the flourishing of the Church.

What should we our desire be for the future of the Church? It should be that we will have a Church that is passionate about prayer (Ephesians 6: 18) and holds firmly to the truth of Holy Scripture. It should be that marriages will be founded on God's word, that Preachers will rightly, skillfully and passionately speak on behalf of their God and will feed us not with what tickles us but what we need to hear even though it may prick our hearts at times. It should be that the Holy Spirit will move mightily as He did at Pentecost and awaken people to the reality of what life truly is, that the light of the gospel will dispel the darkness of their minds (2 Corinthians 4: 4-6).

Revive thy work O Lord; disturb this sleep of death,

Quicken the smoldering embers now, with thine almighty breath.

By Peter Ndalameta 

The Genesis

Well here it is, the start of the blog, "Expository Rapping".
I'm an emcee who goes by the name "Exposition" and this blog was designed not just for information and entertainment purposes but to shape worldviews and change lives.
My aim is to have a new topic of discussion every week talking about issues of life and what the Bible says about those topics.
My first post will be about "Expository Rapping" to kick things off and to settle the dust about what this is all about.

You can also follow me on twitter @Exposition412


Servant of the Most High,

Exposition

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