The True Meaning of Christmas

Hi Everyone,

Christmas is the time where we receive presents especially children. Giving presents itself is not wrong but we also need to remember the real meaning behind Christmas. We need to know why Christians celebrate Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas to welcome the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born in a manger through the virgin birth of Mary in Bethlehem about 2015 years ago. The birth of Jesus came through Mary, a virgin who was pledged to be married to Joseph. Before they were married, Mary, a virgin¹, was pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, who was faithful with the law wanted to divorce her quietly when he heard about her pregnancy as it was shameful  for a lady to be pregnant before marriage. After considering this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him informing him that the baby his wife, Mary is conceiving is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and they are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.^2,3

I became a Christian by trusting Jesus as my God and Saviour during Easter 10 years ago. He is perfect and has no sin yet he bore the burden of our sins and chose to die on the cross for our sins, because of His deep and wide love for us. Jesus, who in very nature God, gave up his rights as God to fulfill the Father's will of saving mankind from sin. We are supposed to be at the cross to receive our punishment yet Jesus took them all. On the third day, He rose from the grave and sit at God's right hand. His resurrection proves that He has conquered sin and death. He died for all our sins regardless of who we are. All our sins are forgiven and we are made right in His eyes. We are saved by grace through our faith in God. He taught us to imitate Him, to be who He wants us to be. As we walk with God, we will bear his likeness and the fruit of the Spirit.

<sup>Below are the references to the birth of Jesus in the Bible. All of the verses are in the New International Version (NIV) translation.

Here are some related Bible verses that describes how God loves us:</sup> 

John 3:16
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. (John 3:16, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Romans 5:8-9

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
 ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:8-9, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

(Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV, Bible Gateway)

1 John 4:16-19

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:16-19, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Galatians 5:22-23

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

(Galatians 5:22-23, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Through our faith in God, we learn to be generous and kind. We are also told to be a cheerful giver. We can give Christmas gifts and yet we also need to remember the birth of our Lord Jesus. We can also remember the needy and help them as well during this period. We can pray for them so that they can find hope and peace with God.

I would like to share some Christmas songs with you this year:

Chris Tomlin - Adore

Chris Tomlin feat. Kristyn Getty - Silent Night

Chris Tomlin - Joy to the World - Unspeakable Joy

Paul Baloche - Hark The Herald Angels Sing



Avalon - We Are The Reason

Christina Perri - Happy Xmas War Is Over

That's all for now. 

Cheers,

Roger Koo

¹ Bible Gateway passage: Luke 1:26-38- New International Version

² Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 1:18-24  - New International Version

³ Bible Gateway passage: Luke 2:1-21  - New International Version

The Meaning of Christmas

Hi All,

Below is a video of the song, We Are The Reason by Avalon:

The chorus is this:

We are the reason that He gave His life

We are the reason that He suffered and died

To a world that was lost, He gave all He could give

To show us the reason to live

Christmas is the time where we receive a lot of presents especially children. Giving itself is not wrong but we also need to remember the real meaning behind Christmas. We need to know why Christians celebrate Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas to welcome the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus was borned in a manger through the Holy Spirit. The birth of Jesus came to Joseph and Mary who were pledged to be married. Before they were married, Mary, a virgin¹, was pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph who was faithful with the law wanted to divorce her quietly where he heard about her pregnancy. After considering this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him saying that his wife, Mary what she conceives is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.<sup>2,3
Below are the references to the Birth of Jesus in the Bible. All of the verses are in the New International Version (NIV) translation.

I believe Jesus as my Lord and Saviour because God sent Him to die on the cross for our sins. He is perfect, then took all of sins and died on the cross for our sins because of His love for us. We are supposed to be at the cross and yet, Jesus took them all. On the third day, He rose from the grave to sit at God's right hand. His resurrection proves that He has conquered sin and death. He died for all our sins regardless of who we are. All our sins are forgiven and we are made right in His eyes. We are saved by grace through our faith in God. He thought us to imitate Him, to be who He wants us to be. As we walk with God, we will bear his likeness and the fruit of the Spirit.

Here are some related Bible verses that describes how God loves us:</sup> 

John 3:16
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. (John 3:16, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Romans 5:8-9

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
 ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:8-9, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.
(Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV, Bible Gateway)

1 John 4:16-19

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
 ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:16-19, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Galatians 5:22-23
²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 
(Galatians 5:22-23, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Through our faith in God, we learnt to be generous and kind. We also told to be a cheerful giver. We can give Christmas gifts and yet we also need to remember the Birth of our Lord Jesus. We can also remember the needy and help them as well during this period. We can pray for them so that they can find hope and peace with God.

That's all for now. 

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

¹ Bible Gateway passage: Luke 1:26-27 - New International Version

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201:26-27&version=NIV

² Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 1:24  - New International Version

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%201:18-24&version=NIV

³ Bible Gateway passage: Luke 2:1-21  - New International Version

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202:1-21&version=NIV

Merry Christmas!

Hi Everyone,

Merry Christmas! to all. Enjoy the holidays. Below is an e-card for you. Please click the DaySpring E-Card to go the e-card. Thanks.

DaySpring E-Card

Here's another e-card that I would like to share:

Another e-card that I would like to share below. Please click the link below"

DaySpring E-Card

Cheers,

Teng Joon

Christmas Songs!!

Hi,

Here are some Christmas songs that I want to share with my blog readers, Joy To The World and Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas in Spanish). These are the YouTube videos that I found:

Joy To The World

The full lyrics for Joy To The World is as follows:

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Source: Joy to the World Lyrics, http://www.carols.org.uk/ba27-joy-to-the-world.htm

I have noticed that some singers only sing 3 verses in their covers of this song. The Anne Murray's version in the video above is one of the versions that has 3 verses. The full song has 4 verses in total.

Feliz Navidad

The full lyrics for Feliz Navidad is as follows:

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Bano y Felicidad.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Bano y Felicidad.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart.

Source: Christmas Songs - Feliz Navidad lyrics, http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/christmas_songs/feliz_navidad.html

That's all. Enjoy the Christmas songs!

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

The True Meaning of Christmas

Hi Everyone,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The season of Chirstmas comes again in December 2009. Just 2 days to go. What does Christmas day signify? Is it signified by Santa Claus and receiving presents? Is it having Christmas parties with church friends, relatives or colleagues only? Is it a time of family reunion and Christmas tree decorating? Is it only when we perform gift exchange?

Well, it is good to have Christmas parties with relatives, church friends and friends. For the relatives, family reunions are good to get updated on what is happening with the family. Even so, we also need to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

For Christians, the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was born on Christmas day. Without this event, we would not even have Christmas. Why is it so important for Christians? Jesus is our Lord and Saviour who died for our sins and rose again on the third day. Jesus is sinless and perfect and yet he chose to die for all of us.

Jesus showed us the meaning of true love. He loves us unconditionally even to the point of dying for us. During his 33 years life on Earth, he has shown us what it really means to love and to be authentic Christians. He has shown us that we need to show love to others even if it is our enemies. His love is for all people in the world. Just accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, confess our sins and believe that he died for our sins and rose again on the 3rd day. As a result of this, we have a changed mindset that everything that we do or say, it is for God's glory. Our lives need to be pleasing to God and not continue to keep on sinning.

The Parable of Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37 shows us how we should care for others without discrimination. It talks about how a man who was attacked by robbers when he was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30) and he was half dead on the road. The man was also stripped off his clothes and beaten. In Luke 10:31-32, a priest and a Levite went by without helping the half dead man. They were from Jerusalem and yet they did not help the man. Meanwhile, a Samaritan who was passing by saw the man. The Samaritan, whom the people of Jerusalem did not like then helped the man by bandaging his wounds and brought him to an inn and took care of the man. The next day, he gave the innkeeper 2 silver coins, 'Look after him, he said and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have'. (Luke:33-35) The Samaritan has shown kindness to the wounded man. He helped the wounded man even though he was not like by the people of Jerusalem. Therefore, we should also help / love others regardless of race, country and religion. This is the extent of God's love.

There are more lessons that we can learn from God but that is all for now. All His teachings teaches us to live righteously and to live with a purpose to glorify God. By what we do or say, we will be witnesses to everyone we meet. That's all.

Enjoy the holidays. Feel free to comment on this blog post. Thank you.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hi, I would like to wish all readers and followers of my blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!. May God continue to bless you in 2009. The actual significance of Chirstmas is that Jesus was born on this day about 2000 years ago. It is a time of celebration for all Christians in the world. I actually fell sick two days ago with sore throat and cold. The sore throat is getting better now. My nose is quite blocked still. May see the doctor tomorrow. Need to drink more water and eat more greens and fruits. This morning, I attended the Gereja Bethel Indonesia (GBI) Christmas service at Taman Anggrek. Communion was part of the service as well. The worship session was good. It suprised me that the song by Chris Tomlin, How Great is Our God is sang here as well. At the end of the service, everyone receives a door gift containing a Breadtalk bread, a 330 ml Danone Aqua Drinking Water and a GBI 2009 Calendar. Of course, it is in Indonesian. Here are some of the Christmas songs and hymns that we normally sing during Christmas:

• Joy to the World
• Silent Night
• O Holy Night
• O Come All Ye Faithful
• Angels We Have Heard on High (Gloria.....in excelsis Deo)
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing
• The First Noel
• God Rest All Ye Merry Gentlemen
• We Wish You A Merry Christmas
• Jingle Bells
• Let It Snow
• Santa Claus is coming to town