Choices are free to make, but consequences COST!!!

Choices are literally the building blocks of a person’s life on earth, and we are our own architects, our lives are basically the sum of many choices added up over the years. They are easy to make but often times most of us don’t consider the effect our choices will have on our lives! Think about it in the realm of Finances, physical health, spiritual health, etc. if we take a quick inventory of these areas we would quickly see that the cause of our troubles can almost always be traced back to bad choices that were made either by us or by loved ones connected to us. I have 3 points that I want to quickly cover on this very serious topic of choices lets jump right into it.

POINT #1- We are responsible for our own choices

See Ezekiel 18 verse 20 "The soul that sins shall die", none of us will stand before God and blame the wickedness of our father as to why we CHOSE to go down the wrong path. None of us will stand before God and glean from the righteousness of big mama and Papa either! In other words, we all have personal responsibility!(Hebrews 9:27) (its appointed for man once to die and after this the judgment) 2nd Corinthians 5:10 ( we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ) Adam shifted the blame to Eve when confronted by God about his sin and the LORD didn’t give him an excuse. Instead he gave him the list of consequences for his wrong choice and he does the same for us. Knowing how critical our choices are and how we alone are responsible for them we should be extra careful to make the right ones…...but how?

POINT #2- Our choices should be filtered through Gods word- Psalms 119:11

the brain is the control center of the body and every decision we make is first conceived in our minds! Our thoughts must be filtered through the word of God, NOT our emotions, friends, media, music, T.V etc. Its really simple Godly thoughts contribute to Godly actions! If we want to live right we have to think right…( proverbs 23:7) as a man thinketh in his heart……….Matthew 6:22 The eye is the lamp of the body, if your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light, Romans 12: don’t conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your MIND…..

POINT #3 our eternity depends on our choices

Matthew 7:13 says enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be who go in it but straight is the way and narrow is the way that leads to life.……..Christ clearly lays out the situation at hand, every man has been given a choice to make when it comes to his salvation. Christ sacrifice on the cross is for all who BELIEVE……..the Thief on the cross who was condemned was no different than the one who believed other than his lack of faith they were both criminals in need of forgiveness, mercy and grace but the believing thief made 3 distinct choices- Luke 23:39 "one of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: Aren’t you the Messiah?, save yourself and us but the other criminal rebuked him saying “ Don’t you fear God? Since you are under the same sentence, we are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong…….remember me in your kingdom." take a closer look at the thief's statements that ultimately pushed the suffering Christ to extend the olive branch of eternal life to him

#1 He confessed his sin before Christ

#2 he acknowledged the person of Jesus and his authority to forgive him.

#3 he received his justification by faith

The criminal could've easily made the CHOICE to be silent as he threw himself a pity party about his wrong actions. Or he could've joined the other guy that was throwing insults at Jesus in a spirit of mockery, strife and bitterness, however even while on his (deathbed) essentially he obtained a salvation that many Pharisees and religious leaders would never grasp and it was all dependent upon the choices he made as he hung next to our Messiah.

take time today to contemplate your decisions with the hope of aligning your life to the will of God! even if you've already made horrible mistakes, you don't have to choose to remain in a horrible situation! God Bless

why the music you listen to is important!

A wise man once said that the human mind is the control center of the body, and I tend to agree with that statement. If you take a brief look at your life, you'll see that wherever you happen to be currently is the result of many different choices you made over time. Choices, are first thought bubbles in your mind, the order is simply this our thoughts come first which matures into us making decisions or choices with the end result of our choices leading us to a prosperous, desired destination or unfortunately to an undesired horrific place but in either case it all starts in the mind.

So you ask, what does that have to do with the music I choose to listen to? the answer to that is easy, what major labels, and people high up in the industry know is the fact that music is probably the most powerful medium in the world when it comes to shaping and influencing the culture and society. Just think about it, music starts trends, music can stop trends, artist down through the years have inspired political dialogue, groups like NWA voiced their disdain for the police lol Michael Jackson inspired unity and love with songs like "we are the world" and others. lets face it depending on the artist or i should say depending on how much influence an artist holds, he or she through the medium of music can change things drastically for the good or bad.

Going back to my point of our minds being the control center. Its important to remember this crucial fact as we go through life because the result would be you and me being more careful about what we allowed into our minds and spirits. The bible says in Philippians 4:8 " whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy THINK on these things" in other words we should strive to meditate only on things that are pure and clean …..why? because whatever we allow in our temples( mind, spirit, soul) correlates to the choices we make in life and also contribute to our peace, or lack thereof and ultimately our destiny. you are what you think! if a person spends all day viewing pornography and violence, should he expect to live a pure and God pleasing life? probably not. My encouragement for you today is to take an inventory of the messages you're allowing to enter your mind through music, but don't just stop there, what are you reading that might be contributing to you falling further away from God? what are you watching on T.V or social media? this is an everyday struggle, putting everything we consume through a filter to see if its good or bad for us spiritually, but in the end it'll be worth it and if you desire to grow in your relationship with God its a needed discipline.......God bless you on your journey I'm on the same journey i might add! so you ill pray for you as you pray for me!!

New Ft Worth artist seeks to shine a new light on the city

Jalen Perkins also known as "New Rain" is one of the bright spots in the DFW music scene. The state of Texas via the city of Houston brought to the forefront the likes of UGK, The Geto boys, screwed up click and many more but the Dallas Ft worth area hasn't had much of a reputation for producing top notch hip hop talent.........until now. New Rain is springing up out of the west side of Ft worth with a very unique sound and message contrary to what his region is used to. In Recent years the Ft Worth music scene was on fire with artist like Go yayo, Lil Cj casino and others giving us hardcore trap music, but Rain offers hope and encouragement to the game with songs like '' All i need" Silver and Gold" and " No condemnation. He often talks about his faith in his music and he usually tries to point his listeners to Jesus in hopes that they find true meaning and fulfillment which is something he says that temporary pleasure like money, fame and sex cant give. He seeks to shine a new light on Ft worth, showing the metroplex has positivity to offer as well as flat out bars and lyrical content. His slogan sums up his whole approach to music " If words can hurt, words can heal" i would highly recommend giving his music a listen through, you wont be disappointed.