Sixteen Cities is proud to present their newest worship album The Depth of Your Love, a collection of 11 original and well-known worship songs. The album is sonically and lyrically refreshing. God is exalted and the depth of His love is on display in every single song.
 
The album showcases a mix of new original songs such as "Greater Is He," "Once For All," and "Psalm 148 (Highly Exalted)," as well as classics such as "Come Thou Fount," "Jesus Paid It All," "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" and "This Is Amazing Grace." The album seeks to be an accurate representation of the worship ministry of Sixteen Cities and to be a resource for the church. I had the opportunity to interview Josh Miller about the single "Once For All."
                                              
Please tell me the message behind the song.
 
We've changed our direction as a band in a big way. We spent a lot of years with Centricity Records releasing songs for radio, and they were always God-centered songs. We're not necessarily the greatest performers, per se, and that was never our heart to be a great performance band. Our heart has always been for ministry. When we performed music for concerts and festivals, we'd be itching to lead people in worship.
 
We realized as a band that God was stirring something in us to be a band that didn't release songs that just hint at who God is or that are abstract, but we wanted to start writing songs where there was no question Who we are singing about. We want our songs to speak His Truth.
 
Josiah and I started intentionally writing songs directly from passages of Scripture. Rather than write a catchy song and then find where it connected in Scripture, we decided to read passages and write a song about that. We haven't changed the process of what we were doing, but it has been phenomenal for us to see what God has been doing.
 
Please share which Bible verses connect to the song.
 
Romans 8:18 (NKJV): "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
 
Romans 8:31 (NKJV): "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:38-39 (NKJV): "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
 
Hebrews 10:10 (NKJV): "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

What is the takeaway message?
 
We feel a renewed passion. This song came from reading through Romans 8. There's the powerful phrase "If God is for us, who can be against us?" We all grew up learning about that passage, and we dove into Romans 8 and really wanted each lyric to reflect a verse out of that section of Scripture. Every line is not an attempt at being creative as much as an attempt to as closely as possible represent the Truth of that passage.
 
It was really exciting to see these songs come together like, "Greater is He" and this song. When we are leading these songs, there is no fluff there. We're singing God's Word, and it is a great way to incorporate Scripture into our lives. Music is a great tool for memorization, and it sticks with you in your head. We want what sticks in people's heads to be the Truth of God's Word. That's where this song came from for us. All of our songs are now directly from Scripture. We don't want to be a band that just releases songs, but to point people to Jesus and have music be one aspect of that. We want to put Jesus in the forefront.
 
Lyrics:
What can we say in the moments of our suffering?
Where is the hope all creation has been waiting for?
We who believe know that all things work together
For the good of his sons and his daughters
And by His sacrifice, we are justified
 
'Cause if our God is for us, who can stand against us?
What can separate us from His love?
For the Son has risen, sin and death are conquered
We have been delivered once for all, once for all
Who can condemn, who can bring a charge against us?
We who are cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ
And by His sacrifice, we are justified
 
'Cause if our God is for us, who can stand against us?
What can separate us from His love?
For the Son has risen, sin and death are conquered
We have been delivered once for all, once for all
 
No height or depth, nor living or dead
Can keep us from His love, His love
No power or ruler, nor present or future
Can keep us from His love, His love
No height or depth, nor living or dead
Can keep us from His love, His love
No power or ruler, nor present or future
Can keep us from His love
 
'Cause if our God is for us, who can stand against us?
What can separate us from His love?
For the Son has risen, sin and death are conquered
We have been delivered once for all, once for all
'Cause if our God is for us, who can stand against us?
What can separate us from His love?
For the Son has risen, sin and death are conquered
We have been delivered once for all, once for all
 
What an amazing picture of the grace of God. As Christians, we all have a reason to reflect on God's Holy and Perfect sacrifice of His son Jesus. He died for us, so that in Him we might know God's righteousness. We can't earn grace, and we can't do anything to gain life other than accept Jesus.
 
What if we lived as though we believe the sincere words of this song? Jesus loves us so much that He came down and took our punishment so that we can be with Him forever. We can rest on Hebrews 10:10 (NKJV): "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." This song encapsulates my testimony of how biblical messages in Christian music led me to Christ. A great outcome of memorizing the words of this song is that you are ultimately singing God's Word.

This is one of my favorite songs of the year. I can't get enough of the Biblical truth of the song, and I love when artists take Gods' Word from the Bible and turn it into a great and catchy song filled with truth. I sing this song to God with all of my heart and know that "No height or depth, nor living or dead, Can keep us from His love, His love, No power or ruler, nor present or future, Can keep us from His love."
 
This timeless passage has application for us today as we live in uncertain times and when we question whether God can really love us after all of our mistakes. As this song proclaims, "Cause if our God is for us, who can stand against us? What can separate us from His love? For the Son has risen, sin and death are conquered. We have been delivered once for all, once for all." Amen to that!
 
(Watch the lyric video here.)