Be sure to catch Json during his Braille Concert Series, sponsored by Rapzilla. (***new dates***)

6/21 Rone2 – 24111 Rockwell Drive – Euclid, OH 8pm

6/22 Parkview Church – 15 Foster Road – Iowa City, IA 7pm

6/28 The Lighthouse – 4338 S Prairie – Chicago, IL 7pm

6/30 New Life Interdenominational Church - 689 Scott Troy Road -Bellville, IL 9am

7/5 Flow Church – 1230 6th St – Racine, WI 7pm

7/12 City of Truth Church – 3810 E 56th St – Kansas City, MO 8pm

7/19 Pinewood Tabernacle - 531 Pinewood Ave – Toledo, OH 7pm

7/20 The Edge – 2252 Division Ave S – Grand Rapids, MI 7pm

9/6 Family Faith Church - 704 N Green Mt Rd – Belleville, IL 7pm

Since posting this we have received about half of our goal of $5,000. Thanks so much, that is amazing! We are really excited for this trip and thankful to the Lord for his provision so far. Also, Stephen Brindle aka Believen Stephen has decided to join us on this trip. To donate money to him, check out his video here.

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What will you spend one dollar on today?

Chewing gum?
Candy bar?
Bottle of water?
Apple?
Send The Collective to proclaim the gospel to Europe and the UK?

In today’s world, there’s not much that we can do with just one dollar. But that’s all we are asking for you to contribute in an effort to partner with us to send The Collective overseas next month. One dollar. With the release of their self-titled album, we have been able to raise funds for them to travel to the UK and Europe. We still need to raise around $5,000. Would you consider donating just one dollar? If everyone that sees this were to donate one dollar, we believe that we would have enough by the end of the day. Please consider it as we desire to proclaim his excellencies and testify of his goodness abroad with our music.

The plan is for them to leave on June 7th and return on June 23rd.

They are partnering with local churches and organizations in Middlesbrough UK, Cork Ireland, Poland and Paris to share the good news.

Click below to donate one dollar or more.

Soli Deo Gloria.

To find out more about the heart behind their trip, watch this video:

Listen to the song here:

“Lyrical Theology Part 1: Theology” releases April 9th, 2012 and is available for pre-order here.

Sonically and thematically, “Lyrical Theology Part 1″ is a throwback album, reminiscent of early work by artists like The Cross Movement and Ambassador. Against a mostly East Coast, underground musical backdrop, the Soli Deo Gloria Fella expounds on a number of the core teachings of the historic Christian faith. Think Wayne Grudem’s “Systematic Theology”, but with rugged drums.

“Lyrical Theology Part 1″ features production by Theory Hazit and Braille from Humble Beast, Demodocus, Die-Rek, Justword and others. It also features guest appearances from Blair Linne, Timothy Brindle, Leah Smith, Joint Heirs and Melissa T. In many ways, this album represents a return to the roots of what inspired Shai to enter the Christian Hip-hop arena in the first place. So grab your Bibles, concordances and highlighters and prepare to dive in deeply on April 9th, 2013.

Pre-orders are now available through the Lamp Mode storefront. Every pre-order receives an automatic download of a song from the album.

Here is the 2nd single from the album. It’s an exposition of Psalm 110 and features Joint Heir on the hook. Production by Theory Hazit.

100% of the profits are going towards the trip and we would love your support.

We have a video for you to check out that will give you more info.

Thanks so much for your support in this effort. All of the artists, producers, engineers and labels involved have greatly sacrificed to get this album done for as cheap as possible. The LORD has opened up some interesting doors already and now that the album is being released, we can really start to nail down specific dates as well as travel plans. Thanks so much for your partnership in this trip.

May the gospel transform hearts here and abroad, by His grace.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Thanks for taking the time to check out shai’s new song, ‘The Hypostatic Union’. It’s the first single off his new project, which is called Lyrical Theology Part 1. This album will be the first in a trilogy. Here’s how the parts break down:

Part 1- Theology

Part 2- Doxology

Part 3- Sociology

We’ll have more information for you, including release dates and explanations for each album as we move forward. For now, here are some reflections on ‘The Hypostatic Union’ from shai linne.

The Hypostatic Union

by shai linne

produced by Die-Rek

“Our topic of discussion is beyond human comprehension

The infinite God has made a super condescension”

“The hypo…what?” That’s how I responded when I first heard the phrase years ago. It bugged me out because it sounds like something you would hear about in an advanced physics class rather than anything having to do with God or the Bible. If the term is new for you, bear with me for a moment. “Hypostatic Union” is a phrase used by theologians in reference to the two natures of Jesus Christ (divine and human) united in one Person. This phrase is meant to convey the Scriptural teaching which simultaneously affirms the full deity of Christ (John 1:1) and the full humanity of Christ (John 1:14). It’s not that Jesus was half God and half human. Or that He was fully God and only appeared to be human. No. 100% God. 100% human. As Ambassador said in his song “Psalm 23” from his classic Christology album (and which I quote for the hook of this song)

“I know it’s deep but when you peep you’ll find it’s dense

Jesus both God and man- two 100 percents”

Yeah, it’s deep. In fact, like the glorious doctrine of the Holy Trinity, it’s actually impossible for us to wrap our finite minds around it. How could the God who inhabits eternity take on flesh, blood and lungs and walk among us? How does the One who created distant planets, solar systems and galaxies become a fetus and develop in the womb of his mother, whom He created? It boggles the mind. In Jesus Christ, God has bridged the gap between the eternal and the temporal, the infinite and the finite.

One passage that stands out in this regard is the account in Mark 12 where Jesus challenged the religious leaders of His day in the temple.

”And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”‘David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.” (Mark 12:35-37)

The Lord Jesus stumped His listeners with that question. In Psalm 110:1, David calls the Christ (or Messiah) his Lord. And yet the Messiah is supposed to be the son of David. How does that work? We are now able to look back and see how that riddle is solved- The Hypostatic Union. David calls Him Lord because Jesus Christ is God. The Messiah is the son of David because Jesus Christ is a human being. Jesus is both the root and the offspring of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-10). In Job 9:33, Job laments the lack of an arbiter who could stand between Job and God, “who might lay His hand on us both”. This cry is powerfully answered by the One who is both the Son of God and the Son of Man- Jesus Christ. The Hypostatic Union solves the dilemma of our salvation. I tried to articulate this dilemma in verse 1:

See, only a human can substitute for human lives

But only God can take the wrath of God and survive

See the humanly unsolvable obstacle?

With God all is plausible, nothing’s impossible

As the God-man, Jesus was perfectly suited in every way to be the Savior of fallen human beings. Strong enough in His deity to pay the full payment for sin. Humble enough in His humanity to identify with the weak and frail. Fully submitted to God, enough to completely lay down His life (John 10:15). Fully equal to God, enough to take His life back up again (John 10:18). There is truly no one like Jesus!

In the song, I use verse 1 to establish the doctrine, verse 2 to speak on the deity of Christ and verse 3 to address the humanity of Jesus. The song was produced by Die-Rek, a gifted Christian emcee/ producer from Toronto. The musical backdrop is relatively simple, with hard hitting kicks and snares. When expounding on something so beautifully complex, I thought that simpler production would serve the lyrics well. My vocal inflections and tone may remind long time listeners of my first album, The Solus Christus Project, which is the flavor that I was going for on this album. I’m choosing that approach as a way of paying homage to an earlier era in Christian hip-hop, when it was still “cool” to use the music as a medium to communicate weighty theological truths. Though it seems that era has come and gone (for the time being), it’s still my favorite style and what the Lord has gifted me to do, so I want to be faithful with that.

As you may or may not gather from the words of the intro, this song is something of a protest against the faulty idea that emphasizing doctrine and theology is somehow at odds with being practical. While it’s true that doctrinal knowledge alone should never be the ultimate goal, it’s equally true that for our practice will devolve into moralism, legalism or worse if it isn’t rooted in theological truth derived from Scripture. I’m a firm believer that we grow more like Christ not by simply being told what to do, but as we simply look at Jesus. This is the meaning of 2 Cor. 3:18:

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

If we’re going to behold the glory of Christ, there’s no better place to begin than with The Hypostatic Union. It’s no accident that this song is being released on Christmas day. I pray the Lord would use it to lift our eyes to Him and marvel at the mystery of the God-man, that we might love, worship and admire Him more, seeking to live more and more for His glory as a response to beholding the glory of Christ by faith.

Fully divine. Fully human. Introducing: The Hypostatic Union.

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: Hewas manifested in the flesh…” (1 Tim. 3:16)

For Further Study, check out:

The Glory of Christ by John Owen

The Person of Christ by Donald MacLeod

Father, Son and Holy Spirit by Bruce Ware