December: God of God

Merry Christmas!

What is the first thought that pops into your head when that phrase is spoken? Could it be shopping, presents, Christmas trees, lights? Or could it be family, food, football, basketball? 

There's nothing wrong with any of theses, but what we often forget is why we, as christians, celebrate Christmas. 

This month, I chose Enfield's God of God. This song embodies not only our Savior's birth, but tells the story from the prophet Isaiah, leads to His death on the cross: the reason why Christ was born, and his resurrection. 

God of God by John Julian (Chorus by Enfield)

Deep in the prophets’ sacred page,
Grand in the poets’ winged word,
Slowly in type, from age to age,
Nations beheld their coming Lord;
Till through the deep Judean night
Rang out the song, Good will to men!
Hymned by the first born sons of light,
Re-echoed now, Good will! Amen.

Born to reign in us forever,
Born a child and yet a king
Born His people to deliver
Let us all in anthem sing,
"Hallelujah, the Messiah has come!"

That life of truth, those deeds of love,
That death of pain ’mid hate and scorn,
These all are past, and now above
He reigns our King, once crowned with thorn.
To Him who sits upon the throne,
The Lamb once slain for sinful men,
Be honor, might, all by Him won,
Glory and praise! Amen! Amen!

O God of God! O Light of Light!
Thou Prince of Peace, Thou King of kings,
To Thee, where angels know no night,
The song of praise forever rings!

Christ was born. Christ was born so that he could deliver a sinful race: to die for a filthy people and make them right with God. Since God is a holy God, He and sin are separate. They cannot be mixed. And since God is a just God, sin must also be punished. Apart from God, we are sinful men and we are condemned and His wrath is all we deserve, "but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved-" (Ephesians 2:5-6). 

This is why we celebrate Christmas :)

August: There is a Fountain

I cannot fully express my gratitude for what Christ has done for me. He has redeemed my unworthy, wretched soul and has called me his own. He chose me (Romans 9), someone who beforehand despised and hated him and was completely deserving of his eternal, just and righteous wrath(Romans 3).

I wrote a letter to a friend, who is beginning college, and it was about guarding your heart. As of recent I've been struggling with this. How ironic, right? I'll blog about this later. Anyways, I told her that if ever she were to struggle with this, to pray earnestly and look to the cross.

I feel that this song is a great reminder of what Christ has done for us. (Click HERE to listen to the song)

There is a Fountain

There is a fountain filled with blood

drawn from Emmanuel's veins;

and sinners plunge beneath that flood

lose all their guilty stains.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood

shall never lose its power

till all the ransom church of god

be saved, to sin no more.

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue

lies silent in the grave,

then in a nobler, sweeter song,

I'll sing thy power to save.

This is the gospel:

Ephesians 2:1-5

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved...

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ also suffered once for sin, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit...

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Be encouraged, live out for Christ. What more could we possibly want? What precious gift could possibly outweigh the richness of God's mercy and grace? Apart from Christ is death and damnation, but in Christ, we are alive. He is everything or he is nothing.