Nature/Grace/Glory

Remove the sandals from your feet
To the land of milk and honey come and feast
We’ll only walk worthy when we find
We are walking in the light of His presence divine

So we tell the story
Nature to grace and glace to glory
We tell the old old story
Nature to grace and grace to glory
The power of Christ is changing lives
Do you want to be healed?
Then pray to the Lord He will make you wise
And the truth shall be revealed

How many times must I thrust my hand into his wounded side?
How many times has my wounded heart raised its head in pride?
Holy despair in our own self is hope’s best proving ground
For in our weakness He is strong and there’s where grace is found.

For he is tender to the weak
He will comfort all who seek
But those he loves he will chastise
For God is merciful and wise

So we tell the story
Nature to grace and glace to glory
We tell the old old story
Nature to grace and grace to glory
The power of Christ is changing lives
Do you want to be healed?
Then pray to the Lord He will make you wise
And the truth shall be revealed

Anthony Foster
April 18, 2010

There is None Other

There is none other who has the Word that will save
Where can we go? Where can we go?
There is none other who arose from the grave
Where can we go? Where can we go?

None other has come down from heaven to earth
Where can we go? Where can we go?
None other has the power to empower new birth
Where can we go? Where can we go?

None other, there is none other sacrifice
None other, none other than Christ
The living God displayed to us
The holy God conveyed to us
The most High God portrayed to us
None other than Jesus Christ.

None other has the righteousness to rend the veil.
Where can we go? Where can we go?
None other has the keys to death and to hell
Where can we go but to the Lord?

None other, there is none other sacrifice
None other, none other than Christ
The living God displayed to us
The holy God conveyed to us
The most High God portrayed to us
None other than Jesus Christ.

April 18, 2010
Anthony Foster

You Are I AM

Bread of Life in you we delight
Light of the world you give us sight
Door of our entry open wide
Good Shepherd be my only guide

You are I am,
You are I am
You are the first and the last
Beyond the future and the past
Source of reality
Our sufficiency
All found in you
You are faithful and true.

The way the truth and the life we’ve found
The resurrection and the life abounds
In our living vine we will abide
To your holiness we flee and hide

You are I am,
You are I am
You are the first and the last
Beyond the future and the past
Source of reality
Our sufficiency
All found in you
You are faithful and true.

Anthony Foster
April 17, 2010
John 6:35; 8:12;9:5;10:9; 10:11; 14:6; 15:1; 1 Pet 1:16; Rev 1:8; 19:11

Hallelujah Hallelujah

My eyes were blind but I thought I could see
And in my own miry mind I planned my destiny
My heart was chained but I thought I was free
Sought to have my way but that way had me

I was dead within my sin
Careless of the state that I was in
I was yet your enemy
When you bled and died for me

And then there came a time
There was once a place
It was by God’s design
An entry into Grace

It was not the counting of the cost
But by the devastating power of the cross
There I saw the love beyond my dreams
There I saw what lovingkindness means

All my guilt for all my Sin
All the wrath He bore
All my vain attempts to win
Shall bankrupt me no more

I was lost but now I’m found
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Once hellbent, I’m heaven bound
Hallelujah, hallelujah

It was not the counting of the cost
But by the devastating power of the cross
There I saw the love beyond my dreams
There I saw just what lovingkindness means

I was lost but now I’m found
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Once hellbent, I’m heaven bound
Hallelujah, hallelujah

Anthony Foster
April 18, 2010

My Only Boast

There is no grace I have within
My self has nothing to commend
All that is in me all that I am
Alll that I own is in the Lamb

I have no goodness of my own
There’s naught in me but Christ alone
No other worthiness to claim
Except the faithful and true Name

I have no claim on purity
I have no claim on the holy
I have no lofty place to stand
I only plead the risen lamb

The lamb who was made sin for us
He bled and died to win for us
All we need to be reconciled
For he was righteous, undefiled

My only boast, my only aim
My only hope in In His name
My only cause, my only trust
Is in the One who calls me Just

Christ is my only place to stand
Two things are graven on his hands
His scars eternally remain
There alongside we read our names

So in that weakness now I boast
I am the least He is the most
All that I am, all I will be
Is hid in Him eternally

My only joy my only plea
Is in the lamb who died for me
My only choice is found in Christ
My security, his sacrifice

I have no words; I am defiled
He knows the weakness of this child
So I have fallen at his feet
My only boast, that I am weak.

My only boast, my only claim
Is in the power of His name
My only hope, my only plea
Is that His blood was shed for me

To live is Christ, To die is gain
So live for Christ while we remain
Our Master soon brings His reward
Our heritage be the Lord

My only plan, all I believe
All I have is what I received
My only boast, my only plea
Is that His blood was shed for me

Anthony Foster
April 16, 2010

Written in meditation this evening after a long week

Life and Death

Sin brings death, sin brings death
It will break your heart and steal your breath
For sin requires that blood be shed
You’ll never live till sin is dead.

Christ brings life, Christ brings life
By the pow’r of His One sacrifice
He laid life down and took it up
We are fed by His bread and cup

The author of life was crucified
And in his dying death has died
In His resurrection so we rise
A body that now never dies.
There is only one sacrifice, only one name
Only one deliverance from age to age the same
Only one refuge from the guilt and the blame
Only one Savior praise God that He came!

Sin brings death, Christ brings life
The cure for the sinsick souls’ strife
Forgiveness and Christ’s own righteousness
Are ours when His name we confess.

Christ brings life. Christ brings life
He shapes us with His pruning knife
To guide our growth and make us strong
To flower and bear good fruit e’re long.

April 16, 2010
Anthony Foster

Put in the Sickle

The seed that's in the wayside cast
Will never root and never last
The birds will snatch away the seed
For untilled ground is where they feed

The stony ground of a hard heart
Will receive the seed but will not start
To see it grow and soon it dies
When troubles come and fears arise

The thorny bramble will choke out
The seed cast there is crushed by doubt
But saving faith will bear much fruit
When life springs from Christ's righteous root.

The Spirit ploughs the stony ground
The Word of God the Tiller sounds
For man's heart is but fallow dust
But broken brambles yield forth trust

The seed that's sown now sprouts and grows
And how this happens no one knows
The Lord Himself sees that it is done
Put in the sickle, the harvest has come.

It is men's hearts that are the soil
And so the heart is where Christ toils
It is to us to sow the seed
For Christ provides all that you need

The seed that's sown now sprouts and grows
And how this happens no one knows
The Lord Himself sees that it is done
Put in the sickle, the harvest has come.

April 14, 2010
Anthony Foster
Written while attending a sermon by John MacArthur at T4G

Beardification and Credibility

News of a new study that says beards make men seem more trustworthy. Or in the case of number 6, more like a bassett hound.

T4G

This has been an excellent conference- sorry I had to cut it short to get back to pressing matters at work.

This was denoted as the largest gathering of Southern Baptist pastors of the year, but it was noted that this is also the largest PCA and Sovereign Grace pastors' conference as well. Lots of ladies there too and many of the folks I spoke with were not pastors or on a church staff.

We almost didn't drive back to the Convention Center last evening for the session, but I am so glad we did. Linked up with Stephen Keene and Rob Turner. It was so good to sit with those dear brothers in the midst of the crowd. Been to a load of conferences through the years but this one will be memorable. R. C. Sproul yesterday, John MacArthur this morning and Piper tonight. I was hungry for good spiritual food. You can get this in the comfort of home over the internet, but being there live with 7000 plus and seeing friends in the process is much better in every way...except for the inconvenience of Louisville drivers:-(

I listen to quite a lot of John Piper and have read most of his major works, so just when I think I've heard most of what he has to say, he pulls out one of those sermons that will be a watershed for me for years to come. It'll be on the T4G site after the conference and I will link to it here.Scroll down the page once there!

Beautiful Thorns

Hideous crown, horrible thorns,
Piercing Christ's brow as a sign of man's scorn
The bramble becomes a crown as it's worn
By the King of the ages, forsaken, forlorn

Hideous crown, horrible thorns
Made beautiful by the one they adorn
My ransom brought forth like new wine
Outpoured as men bruised the living vine.

We weep with the weeping, with the mourners we mourn
As the Holy lamb is struck and his body is torn
But Your sovereign pleasure is served even now
As the beautiful thorns are piercing your brow.

Here in the bramble
Is the source of all thorns
Down here in the bramble
Is where life is reborn
You exchange beauty for ashes
Bring a dance to those who mourn
Exchange beauty for ashes
Bring a dance to those who mourn

The obscenity of His broken body
Raised up for all the world to see.
Is changed at the cross
Where His suffering and loss
Is exchanged for holy beauty in His sacrifice
How beautiful now is the body of Christ.

Beautiful blood, beautiful thorns,
Into a victor's crown transformed
My sins are forgiven as the blood now flows
And none may know
The wisdom of His woes.

Anthony Foster
April 4, 2010

Easter services

What a difference a day makes. Last night we went to a VERY edifying and meaningful service at the BIG church in Louisville. We just returned from a Saturday evening contemporary Easter service at the BIG church in town. Heard a very unsatisfying message on appropriating the resurrection power of Christ. The whole sermon focused on getting your needs met. Word to the wise: do NOT commodify the power of the Most High God. He is not a cosmic power outlet to plug into when and if you need Him.

Take My Heart

Take my heart to where it’s s’posed to be.
Take it apart in spite of me
And deliver me to a place
Where it can apprehend your grace.

Take my heart to where it’s s’posed to be
Set it apart and set it free
By the power of your will
May my heart your spirit fill

Oh take my heart to where its s’posed to be
Set on the blessed hope for eternity
Full of your love
Sent from above
In a secret holy place
Beating to the drumbeat of grace

You made it from the miry earth
That I could come to know your worth
And to follow my heart into your way
Here in the blazing light of day.

Oh take my heart to where its s’posed to be
Set on the blessed hope for eternity
Full of your love
Sent from above
In a secret holy place
Beating to the drumbeat of grace

Anthony Foster
April 2, 2010

Oh Holy Lamb, my offering

Oh Holy Lamb, my offering
In my place you were disgraced
Oh final sacrifice
Reconciliation’s price
You have conquered holy lamb
Victorious you stand
You are Faithful, you are true,
And I will follow you.

Oh bleeding lamb who stood again
Struck down by men like me
Men like me There on the tree
The beauty of the blood
The reconciling flood
From the sacred substitute
So resolute
My grace, my peace
Covenant feast
Who cleansed me of my guilty stains
And now only peace remains

I place my hands
Upon the lamb
Who was sent into my wilderness
And met me there in my distress

He holds the keys of death and hell
And all authority indwells
The holy lamb who was slain
He lives again so we proclaim

He is the one who lives who once was dead
He rose again just as he said
He lives forevermore
Now hear him roar.

Anthony Foster
April 2, 2010