Godsong Music: A Return to Thoughtful Worship

For those of you who know me, you know that I am not one to market something just for the sake of marketing. Having said that, I heard a song this week that I simply had to share with you. My good friends at Godsong Music (Ty Saeger, Brad Smith and Bobby Blakey) have produced the best Christmas song that I have heard in a long time. The name of the song is "There Has Been Born". What makes this song so special? Well, it's truly a Christmas song. It's not about snow, bells, sidewalks, trees, lights or any other traditional "American Christmas idol". No, this song is about the birth of Christ. Imagine that, a true Christmas song.

Please have a listen and let me know (more importantly, let them know) what you think. I truly believe that those of us who promote the doctrines found in the Scriptures about the truth of Christ, need to support music like this so we can ensure that it keeps getting produced. No more "rocking around the Christmas tree"...let's fight for the meaning, truth and reality of Christmas. Click on the Godsong graphic to visit the site.

The Real Christmas Gift: Jesus, the Christ

Every year when Christmas rolls around our culture reacts with great peculiarity. As a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, I know what I am celebrating; the birth of Christ! But I am not sure what exactly the majority of the people in our culture are celebrating, are you? Maybe it's the gifts, the songs, the food? Maybe they sense that something much bigger than themselves is being celebrated by others and they just want to be a part. I really don't know. I have been thinking back to the time before I was a Christian and why Christmas was special to me. I have been thinking and thinking, and I still don't have any concrete answers on why this time of year was so special. It was a time when family gathered, but in my house that happened all year long. It was a time we decorated our home with lights, trees and fake snow maybe that was it. Hmmm? I don't know, but even before I was a Christian, I knew this time of year was special. Oh sure, I knew that it had to do with Jesus - but I didn't know who Jesus was and I certainly didn't know what He claimed about Himself:

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

I of course later discovered the claims that Christ made about Himself and I responded to them and placed my trust and faith in Him. I did this by confessing my sin and then repenting from the ungodly lifestyle that I was accustomed to.

I then was able to view Christmas as the true gift that God gave the world:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16-17

The Greek word "pisteo" has been translated into the English as believe. The problem is that the English word believes does not fully encompass what pisteo means. In our culture we can believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. We believe that the Easter Bunny is going to hop, hop, hop to our home and leave us chocolate eggs to eat. What I am getting at, we have a very low-bar for the word believe. It wasn't that way in the first century with the word pisteo.

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."- James 2:19

Pisteo in the Greek means, simply stated, to know, to act and to trust in something.

To know - This was usually knowledge that came with eyewitness or empirical data.
To act - based on this knowledge, people were called to act upon it
To trust - this trust came from knowing the truth and placing trust in it's veracity, even unto death.

Again, this is a very simple definition, but I trust that my point has been made. Believe in Jesus Christ is more than just saying "I believe". It means that you have heard (you have knowledge) you have acted (confessed and repented of sin) and you are trusting (knowing that your eternity is secure in Him). Simply stated, you have made Him LORD in your life and you are now living out His commands:

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me"
- John 10:27

That statement by Christ should speak volumes in what we have been called to as believers. We are followers of Christ. That is why we have the term Christian. It was a term that was coined in the late 1st century as the church began to explode with growth, and it simply means "Christ followers".

To follow Christ, we have to know what it is He is commanding of us, right? The only way to do that is by reading His word, the Holy Bible:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
- Romans 12:2

How did I get here from Christmas? Easy, once you realize that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the Godman, Jesus the Christ, you will understand that He came into the world for one unique purpose; to save it. The gift is the opportunity to have your sins forgiven by a perfect God who you are separated from by your sins, and I pray that you realize that mental assent of God or even Jesus is not enough for salvation. I pray that you will invoke pistos in your life when it comes to the truth of Jesus Christ and that you and I will have eternal fellowship with each other, but more importantly, with the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Merry Christmas.