I love finding out about new music! Today I bring to you In His Presence, the gospel choir from Wright State University!
The choir is releasing their debut album, For His Glory, on June 12th. I love choir music!!
Listen to their single, “Marvelous Things” below and make sure to support the album.
So I missed Bible study last week! We’ll look at chapter 3 and 4 this week.
Chapter 3 is crazy! Job is cursing everything he could possible think of. This chapter gets real!
Verse 1-10
So remember at the end of Chapter 2 all the friends sat together in silence? Well, Job is the first person to break the silence and he’s not happy. He begins by cursing the date of his birth. He says things like let God forget about the day, let it be erased from the calendar, let the day just vanish from existence, let people that are the best at cursing curse the day etc etc. The point is, Job wished his birthday never ever existed. Do you feel like that sometimes? But he’s just warming up lol. His lament gets deeper in the next verses.
Verse 11-19
After cursing the date of his birth, he now curses his actual birth! He says, why did I not die as my mom was giving birth? Why was she there to receive me with open arms? If she wasn’t there I’d be sleeping peacefully with the kings that came before me. Why was I not a stillborn? Etc, Etc. So now Job is like, okay so maybe we can’t erase a day from the calendar so I wish instead that I died while my mother was giving birth. Wow! Do you feel like that sometimes?
Verse 20-26
First, Job cursed the day of this birth. Second, he cursed his actual birth. Now, he’s questioning the purpose of life. Hmm, I know we’ve all questioned that before. Why do people that clearly don’t want to live anymore still wake up to a new day? Why is life given to those that will be happier in death? Why does God not allow us to see the meaning of life. What’s the point of it all? Do you have those same questions? I know some of us probably love our birthday and have never cursed it. You’ve probably even never cursed your birth. But, all of us have certainly wondered about the meaning of life. Job closes out his lament feeling like the only thing left for him is death.
I often wonder why certain chapters are in the bible. This whole chapter is a lament and could’ve easily been explained in two or three sentences. Instead it was expounded upon. I feel like God is showing us here that it is okay to be frustrated, confused, and disappointed with life. It’s okay to be overwhelmed with life so much that we start to question it’s importance. We’re human. But what I love about this lament is that through it all Job still didn’t curse God. He basically cursed everything but God!
That’s all for chapter 3. It was a short one but important nonetheless!
Challenge: Let us not curse God in our anger.
TosinMojiSpeaks is proud to be partnering with Tyscot Records in hosting Damita Haddon’s lyric video debut of
“Won’t Turn Back”.
“Won’t Turn Back” is off her upcoming album, Anticipation, which will hit stores July 24th.
You’ve heard the single; now it’s your time to sing along!
On Thursday, May 31st, Tyscot Music & Entertainment will host the virtual lyric video debut of Damita’s current radio single “Won’t Turn Back”.
The lyric video will feature the hot track and never before seen images of Ms. Damita. Won’t Turn Back is the current single from the upcoming project Anticipation, to be released July 24th.
“Won’t Turn Back” is a fun song that also carries a strong message of staying with God no matter the circumstances.
Written by Damita and produced by, Fredrick “Blaze” Crawford, the song’s declarative lyrics say, “I’ve been running for You a long time and I won’t turn back, No I won’t turn back, I’ll keep on Running!” Throughout the song, she expresses her commitment to God with the lyrics, “With you by my side, I know I can win, You’re my Guide and You’re my closest Friend-I won’t turn Back!”
On May 31st, Damita fans will be treated to a musically unique and visually electrifying lyric video which will debut on Tyscot Music and Entertainment’s Youtube channel, Tyscot TV (www.youtube.com/Tyscottv).
In addition, several key Gospel Entertainment sites have also joined Tyscot in hosting Damita’s video including:
www.gospelpundit.com
www.gospelcity.com
www.ugospel.com
www.getvnetwork.com
www.gospel360online.com
www.tosinmojispeaks.wordpress.com
www.pathmagazine.com
www.1800gospel.com
www.yeslordradio.com
www.gospelinnovation.com
www.gospelnw.com
JTA Promotions Youtube channel
Damita will release the follow-up to her acclaimed album, No Looking Back, on July 24th. For those who purchase the album via iTunes, Amazon MP3 or Digital 7, fans will be treated to a Deluxe version of the Anticipation album which will include a brand new, never-released bonus track, her previous hit single “No Looking Back” and its video which has generated nearly 1 million views on Youtube.
Anticipation will be available in stores and online July 24th. The current single, “Won’t Turn Back” can be heard on radio stations across the country. If you haven’t heard it on your favorite station, request it today.
Every so often you come across musicians on Youtube that you want to learn more about. A couple years ago I was watching some clips from the Village Underground in NYC and came across Broken ChainZ. I was immediately captured by the song, the sound, and their worship. I was able to catch up with the band to talk about their vision, sound, and debut album. Read it below!
TosinMoji:Tell me about how Broken ChainZ began.
Jerry “Juice”:Broken ChainZ band started in summer 2009. It basically started out with me reaching out to some guys that I actually prayed about. God led me to some musicians that I believed could be a part of the sound and a part of this movement. I told them what God put on my heart to do as far as this freedom movement and what Broken ChainZ was about.
TosinMoji:What is this freedom sound that you talk about?
Juice: Basically it’s about liberation. The vision stems from Luke 4: 18-19 where Jesus said the spirit of the Lord is upon me for He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. One thing that stuck out is when He said to liberate the captives. I just believe that we have a lot of Christians who are still bound and we cover that up with attractive gospel music that really doesn’t hit the core. But overall there’s a lot of great and inspiring gospel music out there. But I just felt that there’s a rebellious generation out there that needs to hear an aggressive, in your face style of music with the message that let’s them know they can be free.
TosinMoji: I like that! So you all just released your debut album. Congrats! What was the process like?
Juice: What I normally do is I come to the rehearsal with whatever idea I have or whatever inspiration God has given me and kind of pull from their thoughts, ideas, and inspirations. We share this idea musically and make it into the sound that you hear on the album. The contribution from each of these guys is what makes the Broken Chainz sound what it is.
Phinees: This is probably the longest ministry/band I’ve ever played with. We all bring our own personality to the sound. Everyone plays a different instrument but I realized when you listen to gospel records you hear the same people playing the same thing. When I listened to the playback of the record I felt like I played this way on this song and on another one I sound like a totally different person. But it’s still the same personality. So I love how we make our own personality not fit in a box.
Marcus: This was initially Juice’s sound or idea and we all participated in carrying out that vision and bringing it to life. We have all been able to utilize what we have and be able to execute it in a way that it’s just a different sound.
TosinMoji: Your sound is very different from the typical gospel sound. How receptive are people to your music?
Juice: We’ve had our share of rejection simply because people do two things when they view something that’s different and new. They either try to destroy it or they run away from it. But you have those people who we are actually reaching out to who have a heart of the band because they hear a sound that their spirit or their soul is crying out for. So we definitely have the traditional crowd that’s not gonna get this album at all, but we’re not called to everybody. We’re just called to a certain few especially in this generation that see that these guys are young, fresh, dope, but they do love God.
TosinMoji: So I love the way you all have described your sound and vision for the project. What about the lyrics? Who writes them or is it a collaborative effort?
Juice: Simply because this is our first album it’s been me writing and Saeed would co-write. We would shoot ideas back and forth as far as where the song should go. These are songs that God’s given me either few years ago or just recently.
Marcus: Like I said, this was initially Juice’s idea but now that we are a lot more familiar with the sound and with each other we’re definitely going to make it more of a collaborative effort and put it together in the next album. We all have ideas to bring to the table.
TosinMoji: What are your favorite songs on the album?
Phinees: Freedom Cry. It’s the anthem of the band. It’s very cross-cultural
Carlin: Cross Anthem. It’s an aggressive song. I love the fact that it’s a hymn and we approached it differently.
TosinMoji: Yea I really like that song. It was interesting how you took that song and switched it up.
Juice: That was actually my pastor’s idea. My pastor told me you guys should do a hymn. I looked at him like ‘A hymn with our style? That would never work’. Lo and behold I was coming from a studio session and next thing you know it’s on the album.
Marcus: My favorite song might be Cross Anthem as well. It’s a hymn that’s been modernized and Broken Chainz-ized.
Matthais: My favorite is Merciful God. Most people like Cross Anthem and I love that song too but Merciful God is a worship song and I’m all about that.
Juice: I think my favorite song would have to be Musician’s Cry. Not because of the musicality of it but basically because of the relationship it has with me personally. The words are like my spirit speaking out loud. Every word from start to finish.
TosinMoji: What are your rehearsals like? I imagine they get quite interesting!
Juice: We have a couple of clowns. Carlin and Marcus are the funniest guys in the entire universe. They need their own T.V show. These guys will have you crying throughout the whole rehearsal. One thing I love about rehearsals is that we cry out to God. One thing that we do when we come to rehearsal is we speak out loud the things we are believing God to do in our lives. That’s our tradition. We don’t play first, we go straight into confessing and speaking those things that are not as though they are.
TosinMoji: Wow that’s amazing! How did that start?
Juice: It was something we did for the first time a couple years ago and the Spirit of God just said ‘This is us. This is what we do’. And we have witnessed God through us confessing and speaking those things in the atmosphere.
TosinMoji: Amen. What do you guys expect listeners to get from your music?
Matthais: When you get the album you should be prepared for the unexpected. You should be prepared for a sound that’s unprecedented. Be prepared for a spiritual whirlwind. Something different; it’s not something that you’ve heard before.
Juice:We want listeners to be engaged. It is our job to set the atmosphere and begin this journey to this place called freedom where people—young people—are not afraid to lift up their hands, jump, scream, shout, and just experience God in a way where they feel they’re not being judged. They can see young, black men who are radical and on fire for God. It’s not only about Jesus Culture, Planetshakers, or Hillsong. We have people right here in New York that are on fire for God.
Well there you have it! Listen to their debut album,Sound of War, Cry of Freedom, and you can certainly tell these young men are on fire for God–and want others to experience that same feeling. The album is amazing, both lyrically and musically. If you are looking for a new sound or just more music to add to your collection this is definitely a band to check out!
Watch their video for Freedom Cry!
Okay so I woke up this morning and saw Exodus 23:1 trending on twitter. I was so excited in my mind I’m like “Yay, a Bible verse is trending on twitter. And it’s not John 3:16 lol. That’s so cool. The Word is getting out there”. Seriously. I was so happy!
So I click on the trend and the first thing that comes up is something about a Pusha T diss track. I was so confused.
After doing some quick research I realized that Pusha T made a diss track (that is supposedly in reference to Drake), and he titled it Exodus 23:1. Now there’s apparently going to be beef/war between the two labels (G.O.O.D music and YMCMB).
The scripture that he cites reads “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness” and I guess that’s what he’s basically talking about in the song. However, I couldn’t help but think: Is this blasphemous?
Yea, it’s probably going to cause some people to go find their Bibles to see what that scriptures says and it may spark some positive discussions but is it right? The track is laced with profanity, negativity, and drama. Why are we bringing scripture into this?
On the flip side, the Bible stands as THE truth and THE authority. What better way to express your feelings than to search the scriptures? He’s not taking the verse out of context.
Or is he?
I don’t know what to think. Nothing is sacred anymore.
Have you heard the new single from Deon Kipping?
On his latest single, “What’s Coming is Better”, Deon Kipping reminds us that “what’s coming is better than what’s been.”
Do you believe that for your life today? Check out the single below.
Follow up from Job 1. Let me know how you learned how to worship God through even through the hard times!
Still working on it? Let’s pray about it 🙂
Here’s the 2nd week of bible study :).
Verse 1-6
So Satan has just destroyed everything that Job has, and now he’s back in front of God looking for more work. Isn’t that just like Satan to keep coming back, over and over. (Hint: He won’t give up without a fight, so if Satan keeps attacking you, you must be doing something right.) So again, God is like have you considered my servant Job. Now by this time Job has basically lost everything except his wife and his home…everything! But even through that he didn’t curse God.
The end of verse 3 is interesting to me. God says “And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason”. What stuck out to me was the very end “…without any reason”. A lot of times we feel like things are happening to us for no reason. The truth of the matter is, sometimes we’re right! Everything that could possibly go wrong does and we have no reason why. It’s not fair, I know. We see here that some things that happen to us, especially the random ones, are because of battles in the spiritual realm. But at the end of it all, if we stay committed to God through the process He will reward us at the end. So…hold on 🙂
Anyway, Satan is like God a man will do anything to save his own life. All you did was take his stuff, but I promise you if you touch him he will definitely curse you. It’s funny, as I was reading this I noticed two things. From, chapter 1 to chapter 2 God doesn’t change his story. He still calls Job a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. However, we see Satan changing his story. In chapter 1 he’s like I promise you God if you touch Job’s stuff he will curse you. That didn’t happen. So he comes back again in this chapter and says I promise you God if you touch Job himself he will curse you. Hmmm, isn’t it just like Satan to change his story. That’s why we need to stop listening to him! He’s a liar and he will say anything to get what he wants.
But again, God is up for a challenge 🙂 He’s like okay Satan whatever, I don’t know when you’re finally gonna understand that Job isn’t going to curse me but I’ll keep playing this game with you. So God tells Satan he can do what he wants with Job but he has to spare his life. (Random thought: Satan can’t do any more to you than God has allowed!)
Verse 7-10
So Satan does what he does best: destroy. He attacks Job’s health and leaves him with sores all over his body. Job is in so much pain he scraps his skin and just sits in his ashes. He’s not only in physical pain, but mental and spiritual as well. I know if that was me I’d be sitting there wondering “God, what on earth did I do to deserve all of this! Attacks one right after the other!”. Even his wife is like Job I don’t know why you’re still holding on to God. Just curse Him already. Look what He’s doing to you. And Job’s like woman, please…you’re talking reckless! Who are we to accept all the great stuff from God and not the trouble times.
When I read that it made me think about the spiritual roles in society. Have they changed? Here we see Job staying steadfast in his faith. But from watching different marriages around me, it seems like nowadays the woman is usually the one to hold firm to God during trying times and the man usually struggles. I don’t know, it was just interesting to see here how his wife is so quick to condemn God.
Verse 11-13
I love this part right here! So Job has 3 friends who hear about what Job is going through and they all meet up to go and support him during his time of trouble. When they see how unrecognizable their friend is they immediately mourn. They feel his pain. But that’s not the part that got me. After that, they sit with him for 7 days and 7 nights…in silence. How many of us can say we can mourn with a friend for a whole week? Moreover, how many of us can mourn with them in the silence? Sometimes we can be very nosey! We want to know who, what, when, where, why, and how. More times than not, being a great friend isn’t about figuring every single detail of the situation; it’s just about being there. That’s it. We like to complicate things. These 3 friends put their personal issues aside for 7 days just to sit with their friend in silence. That’s another important point. I don’t know why sometimes we feel that the perfect time to talk about our issues is when a friend is going through their own. Stop being so selfish! We can learn something from these 3 friends.
Challenge: Is your friend going through a difficult time? Try sitting with them in the silence.
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