City Lights
Fellowship and Mission

Jesus followers and hip-hop heads.

We’re disciples making more disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, within the hip-hop community,
cuz no one should live and die without hearing God’s good news.

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Growing in faith, friendships, and the hip-hop elements

Loving God – and being loved by him – and loving others

Telling others about Jesus Christ

Part 1: The Analogy

When you go to a resto, there is an inherent “deal”: you order food, they give it to you first, and afterward you pay for it. If you skip out on paying, you are guilty of not just breaking the “rules” but breaking that relationship. You should be dealt with appropriately – and that’s based on who you broke trust with.

If you skip out on the meal and the owner lets it go, just dismissing your sin, you might not have to pay them, but it harms the “system” and screws others over. The restaurant owner, the wait staff, the cooks, all miss out on the pay and tip they should have gotten. It looks like forgiveness, but really, it’s just forgetting about it. You can still live with guilt, shame, fear.

If you skip out on the meal and the owner doesn’t let it go, cheating his workers, and doesn’t call the cops, but takes his credit card and pays for it himself, then that’s true forgiveness. He takes a loss personally, but the workers get paid, and your meal was paid for. The guilt of theft is no longer on you cuz the cost of the meal was paid.

And it’s easy to take an analogy to far and I hope this doesn’t go there, but what if the resto owner didn’t just pay for your meal, but offered you a job? And eventually you learned from his heart, his ways, and he helped you live out the honourable way? Eventually the respect that he has gives you credibility too and people start honouring you too, cuz of how you are, but also cuz of your association with him. You no longer have guilt, you no longer have to fear, and now you no longer have shame.

He doesn’t just meet your hunger, but also the needs of your soul.

Part 2: The Real

God built a world (restaurant) where it’s truly good. There’s a “deal”, the covenant: live by the system he’s set up and you’ll benefit from it. He does too cuz he gets props.

But then people broke that relationship and stole from him. They wanted their own system. They dishonoured, disrespected, dismissed, and disobeyed him.

He could have let you leave and live away from him, but he loves us too much.

He could have just dismissed the sin, but that doesn’t honour him, doesn’t provide for the rest of the people, doesn’t keep the system that works, and doesn’t free you from guilt, shame, and fear – and doesn’t bring you back into a relationship with him.

So he pays for the meal you stole himself. He sends Jesus and his death and resurrection is what pays for the crime. Like money pays for money, Jesus was the full value cuz you have worth as a completely human and you dissed the whole of God. It’s a “new deal”, that if you believe it when God says that through Jesus your sins are forgiven and if you trust that God will bring you back into relationship with him – this good, powerful, and loving God – then you are welcome in. Not only that, but you get to be with all the others who are broken, but then are being made whole, living that journey out together, helping each other. But it requires that you trust him and let him lead.

God is real. His love is real. But our sins are real.

Jesus is who the Bible says that he is and that’s why forgiveness is real too. A life with him is real too.

God’s offer is real. Will you accept it?