The Door

We were on the outside

We were trying to get in

But we were carrying a burden

Of death and guilt from sin

We were trying to buy a ticket

We were pounding ten times more

But there's only one way to enter in

By the one who is the door.

Knock and His door shall be opened

Seek and you will find,

If your heart's contrite and needy

And you're know you're weak and blind

Cause it's locked up from the inside

And you don't have a key

But the one who holds the keys of life

Has worked for you and me.

Now there is only one door

Not many like some say

One way through to heaven's gates

That's through the One who is the Way.

The veil of separation

Was parted at his cost

To make a way of entry

And a refuge for the lost.

So lay down all your burdens

Only he can grant you sight

Only he can cleanse you from your Sin

And draw you to the light

Enter in God's Holy presence

What are you waiting for?

Come in from all your wandering

For Jesus is the door.

So call out to the watchman

And kneel down on the floor

Cast yourself upon its threshold

Jesus has become the Door

And He opens into heaven

And He opens into grace

And He opens into glory

And He's made for you a place.

And He opens into heaven

And He opens into grace

And He opens into glory

And He's made for you a place.

Anthony Foster

August 20, 2018

The Commission

The glory of the risen Christ Shows the power of the King

In mercy he has sacrificed Once for all His offering.

And this was to his single purpose- According to His plan

This is truth we shall confess- According to His command

Chorus:

Go therefore and disciple all the nations

Go therefore and baptize those who believe

In the name of the Father and the name of the Son

and the Holy Spirit bid them come

Teach them to obey the Word that you have received.

All authority is His He has the power and the right

To pursue his purpose to its end By the power of his might

According to his kindness According to His grace

He will make disciples In every time and place.

Chorus:

Go therefore and disciple all the nations

Go therefore and baptize those who believe

In the name of the Father and the name of the Son

and the Holy Spirit bid them come

Teach them to obey the Word that you have received.

His kindness is tender His purpose we desire

His power without limit His greatness we admire

We must see and worship the risen Christ.

He is the one you are looking for

We must see and worship the risen Christ.

He is the worthy one He is the Lord.

Bridge:

Christ is with us always

Christ is with us always

Christ is with us always

Christ is with us always

Christ is with us always

Even to the end of the age.

Chorus:

Go therefore and disciple all the nations

Go therefore and baptize those who believe

In the name of the Father and the name of the Son

and the Holy Spirit bid them come

Teach them to obey the Word that you have received.

Anthony Foster

August 20. 2018

My Way to Glory

Jesus worked my way to glory- God is with me, I am changed

He has closed his ranks about me My whole life is rearranged

No longer an alien, abandoned no longer

No longer a slave to sin My faith's getting stronger.

Jesus worked my way to glory Jesus died to get me there

He did the impossible His resurrection now declares

God is for us not against us, He is with us all the way

To glory I will set my sights- learn to trust and to obey.

Jesus worked my way to glory This is redemptions story

What I could never do he's done My place secured before the throne

The victory is won by God's own Son.

Jesus worked my way to glory This exempts me from God's wrath

Now just as you secured the Way lead me on that righteous path

I'll rest in His resurrection No worldly loss or worldly gain

Nor Satan's lies won't detour me or turn me from His way.

In the life and hope and righteousness that he promised I will trust

It is finished, it's accomplished Now His work declares me just

The unimaginable cost he bore That my joy could be complete

Lord circumcise my heart to love you till I glory at your feet!

Jesus worked my way to glory This is redemptions story

What I could never do he's done My place secured before the throne

The victory is won by God's own Son.

After listening to a devotional by John Piper
Anthony Foster

August 19, 2018

Ever Loved

Behold what manner of love is given

Look what our Father has done

That we might be called his daughters

That we might be called his sons

Chosen and adopted

We are ever loved

A future and a hope is ours

And a home up above

Now are we God's children,

and it does not yet appear

Beloved, what we shall be:

But we know that, when he draws near

We shall be like him;

for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that has this hope

In Him is one of His

He purifies himself, even as he is pure.

He purifies himself, for this is sure:

We are ever loved

We are ever loved

We are ever loved

And this love will endure

1 John 3:1-3

Anthony Foster

August 18, 2018

What We Were Made For

Once there was a garden

Where the presence of the Lord

Was evident everywhere

But an angel with a flaming sword

Now guards the garden's entryway

For mankind was cast out

And the story of the One who is the door

Is what the Bible's all about

But with our souls at enmity

With the God whose image we bear

There was no way we could devise

That could give us entry there

But though the entryway was sealed

And death became the wage of sin

The righteous Son has suffered

That he might make a way back in.

He opened heaven's gateway

God's son who holds the keys

Was slain for us that we might live

And change our destinies.

And now we are forgiven

He takes our guilt away

He justifies us justly

Because the price he paid

He is propitiation

He drank the cup of wrath

And now no condemnation

Can ruin the narrow path

He is the resurrection

And that's what dead men need

Eternal life and a new body

And our spirit now is freed

We approach the throne now boldly

To stand redeemed and cleansed

Before God's grace and glory

In a home that never ends.

This is what we were made for

To enjoy God forever

Fully freely in His presence

In a bond no sin can sever.

Everlasting and immortal

Undying-beyond time

Perpetually persistent

In the presence of love divine.

This is what we were made for

With our Father to abide

Free to enjoy Him fully

Washed clean and purified

Free to enjoy Him fully

Because our Savior died

Free to enjoy Him fully

Forever unified!

1 Peter 3:18

Anthony Foster

August 18, 2018

Devotional by John Piper

Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

The greatest good of the good news — the gospel — is the enjoyment of fellowship with God himself. This is made explicit here in 1 Peter 3:18 in the phrase “that he might bring us to God.” That’s why Jesus died.

All the other gifts of the gospel exist to make this one possible.

We are forgiven so that our guilt does not keep us away from God.

We are justified so that our condemnation does not keep us away from God.

God is propitiated so that his wrath doesn’t stand between us and God as our Father.

We are given eternal life now, with new bodies in the resurrection, so that we have the capacities for being with God forever and enjoying God to the fullest.

Test your heart. Why do you want forgiveness? Why do you want to be justified? Why do you want the wrath of God to be propitiated? Why do you want eternal life? Is the decisive answer, “Because I want to enjoy God now and forever”?

The gospel-love that God gives is ultimately the gift of himself. This is what we were made for. This is what we lost because of our sin. This is what Christ came to restore.

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Bless His Holy Name!

From the depths of my soul a song rings out

Of his greatness and goodness my voice will shout

Bless God with my heart and not just my mouth

My soul forever will sing!

Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

you mighty ones obey his word,

Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

who do the will of the Lord

Bless the Lord, all his works,

in all places of His reign...

Bless the Lord, O my soul-

Again and again and again!

With wonder and awe I will praise His name

With the thoughts of my mind I will do the same

May blessing my God be my one true aim

My soul forever will sing!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

(Psalm 103)

Anthony Foster

August 18, 2018

Feelings Will Follow

Feelings are fickle and bound to change

The heart is deceitful and this fact remains

It may be a hard saying and harder to swallow

If you focus on facts then feelings will follow

Feelings are sheep who go easily astray

They need a shepherd to guard over their way

Left to our ways in self pity we'd wallow

If you focus on facts then feelings will follow

If we set our minds on things above

On enduring truth and amazing love

When we can feel God's glories shine,

Then will the facts and our feelings align

O what amazing joys we feel

When rightly reckoning what is real

Then the feelings we're meant for will fill up the hollow

If you focus on facts then feelings will follow.

So test everything and hold to what's real

Then shall we know, and taste, and feel

The joys that cannot be expressed.

Examine your feelings - find if they pass the test

There's a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to act and and a time to reflect
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Take some time for a reality check

We have this choice in what we confess

Depressed or distressed or infinitely blessed

Feelings are fickle and that you well know

If you focus on facts then feelings will follow

If you focus on facts then feelings will follow

If you focus on facts then feelings will follow

Anthony Foster

August 17, 2018