I know that Messiah is coming

Listen, I've never steered you wrong. I was one of the first to tell you that Joel Osteen was an antichrist. I was one of the first to tell you that saddlebacking a church is not necessarily a good thing. And I was one of the first to tell you that my sweet thing? Wondrous. Check, check, and check.

So trust me when I say you need to run to the nearest Christian bookstore to purchase Third Day's album "Christmas Offerings". It is perhaps the best Christmas album ever, up there with Nat's. Buy it for the perfect blend of southern rock and familiar carol. Buy it just to hear Mac Powell hit that note on "O Holy Night". Or buy it for one of the purest hymns I've ever heard, Third Day's original "Born in Bethlehem".

There are very few songs I hear once and find it perfect, and this is one of them. Check out these lyrics:

Baby Jesus, born in a stable, humble Savior's birth.
You left your throne in Heaven above, to live here on the Earth.

Baby Jesus, lying in a manger, crying for the world.
The Angels told the Shepherds of the Good News for us all.

Hallelujah, the King is here, given for all men.
For today the Holy Son of God, is born in Bethlehem.

Come now Sinners and you Saints, all peasants and all Kings.
And bow before the Earth's Redeemer, let all voices sing.

Hallelujah, the King is here, given for all men.
For today the Holy Son of God, is born in Bethlehem.

Baby Jesus, do you know you'll die for all our sins?
Don't be afraid, for in 3 days, you will rise again.

Hallelujah, the King is here, given for all men.
For today the Holy Son of God, is born in Bethlehem.

You have the very beginning of the song that crystallizes the incarnation of Christ down to its finest elements: Savior leaving the riches of Heaven for a humble manger. You have the joyous chorus proclaiming the coming of the King. You have the call to worship in the middle, asking all to bow before Redeemer. Or you have the last verse that sadly asks an infant whether He knows His fate, the one that ends on a tree -- but that morphs into rejoicing at the victory over death.

Reading this is great in its own right, but run, don't walk, run to that nearest store and go ahead and pay that Christian markup. This one time? Worth it.