Let It Be Free
Words and Music by John Fischer

This whole crazy world's on it's crutches;
Man pollutes everything that he touches.
If we ever were needing a healing,
We need it now Lord,
We need it now Lord,
We need it now Lord,
We need it now.

If there is a way, Lord,
Where we can be where you want us,
Please don't leave it to us Lord,
'Cause we'll grab it up and rape it from your hands.

Such a shame it's the same sad story;
Every man on this earth wants the glory.
If there is a new way to be holy,
O let it be free Lord,
Please let it be free Lord,
Don't leave it to me Lord,
It's got to be free Lord.

"Lord, we want to lead significant lives, but we're tired of performing.
We've been performing all our lives trying to earn love, trying to earn
peace, trying to earn acceptance, and we're tired Lord, real tired. If there
is a new way to be holy, let it be free Lord, let it be free."

We need it now Lord
We need it now Lord
We need it now Lord
O let it be free Lord,
Please let it be free Lord,
Don't leave it to me Lord,
It's got to be free Lord.

What Has Gone Wrong
Words and music by John Fischer

What has gone wrong? I didn't used to feel this way.
The sermons and songs don't sound like they did yesterday.
I sing the same songs, and hear the same words,
And wonder if it's all true.

I know I should be much better than I really am;
I guess it's just me, but I'm doing all I can.
I look at others, and they don't seem
To struggle like I do.

I try to be what I know I should be,
But I never seem to come through.
Is everyone here as good as they seem
Or like me are they faking it too?

Maybe I need a second blessing from the Lord,
Except that I've had more than maybe three or four.
I just know I can't keep on playing these games
I know are not true.

"My name is Moses. Now don't be alarmed this isn't the first time I've shown up since I died. The reason I'm back this time is that I have a real affinity for what these kids want to teach you. Take this young lady, for instance. Have you ever felt like her? I suppose we all have at one time or another. The unfortunate thing is that we so often take the easy way out. Rather than being honest, as she has been, with our frustrations and struggles, we cover them up behind masks of spiritual piety. I'm a master at that myself. I used to wear a veil over my face all the time when I was leading the children of Israel. I made them believe that I was wearing the veil to protect them from the brightness of the glory on my face, when actually, under the veil, that brightness had long faded away. Little did I know that I was starting quite a trend. People have been veiling their inadequacies ever since. But the most alarming thing is that the greatest preponderance of this "veildom" is in Christian churches.

You know... if there were some way of making masks that would enable whoever wore one to look like a spiritual giant, and somebody could market them in Christian bookstores across the country, they'd make a killing!"

Evangelical Veil Productions
Words and Music by John Fischer

Evangelical Veil Productions--
Pick one up now at quite a reduction!
Got all kinds of shapes and sizes,
Introductory bonus prizes!
Special quality one-way see-through
(You can see them but they can't see you).
Never have to show yourself again.

Just released a Moses model.
Comes with shine in a plastic bottle.
Makes you look like you've just seen the Lord!
Just one daily application,
And you'll fool the congregation.
Guaranteed to last a whole week.

Evangelical Veil Productions--
Pick one up now at quite a reduction!
Got all kinds of shapes and sizes,
Introductory bonus prizes!
Special quality one-way see-through
(You can see them but they can't see you).
Never have to show yourself again.

Got a Back From A Summer Camp veil
With a mountain-top look it'll never fail,
As long as you renew it every year.
Plus a special Jesus Freak File,
Everyone comes with a permanent smile,
A one-way button and a sticker for your car!

Evangelical Veil Productions--
Pick one up now at quite a reduction!
Got all kinds of shapes and sizes,
Introductory bonus prizes!
Special quality one-way see-through
(You can see them but they can't see you).
Never have to show yourself again.
No, you never have to show yourself again.
Never have to show yourself again--
You're protected!

(Moses:)
"I noticed some of you were rather puzzled when I told you why I wore the veil. That's because you probably learned in Sunday School that I wore it to protect the people from the glory of my face after being with God on the mountain. Well now that's partially true. That is why I put the veil on. But I fooled the people, and you too, by keeping it on long after that glory had faded away. There's one person I didn't fool though, and that was the Apostle Paul. He revealed my secret in 2 Corinthians three verse thirteen. He said that I didn't want the people to see the glory fading, and have them lose confidence in me. He was right. But why do you suppose it faded away? Because God brought this great and glorious standard to us, and no one--not even I--could follow it. The closest we could get was a momentary shine on my face from being in His presence. The glory faded because it represented a basis of living that was never intended to last. I could never have made it through the rest of my life had I not begun to believe that ultimately there would be another way. Ah yes, how privileged you are! How clearly you see what I saw so dimly: that there is another way. What I brought to the people was the fading glory of an old covenant. But there was to come a new covenant--a new basis for living. With the old covenant, we had to leave God on the mountain and try to follow his laws on our own limited strength, and fail. But now, with the new covenant, you have God's only Son, Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of all the law, living in you very hearts, and it is He who gives you the power to become everything God wants you to be. The old covenant requires everything of us with no help from God. The new covenant requires nothing from us because everything comes from God.

"But be careful. I've been watching you, and I've noticed that it's very easy for you to slip back into the old covenant. Some of you don't even realize there is a new one. You're living the Christian life as if it were a set of rules and regulations for you to follow. You're trying to change yourself by wearing spiritual masks because you don't believe that God can really change you."

Ways and Means
Words and Music by Dale Annis

All along it seemed so wrong,
To find myself where I didn't belong.
Laying low behind my dreams,
I didn't realize the ways and means--
The ways and means of living.

Time, you know, it's a funny thing,
It holds on tight to your fondest dreams.
You wish upon a star that they's all come true,
And you try to change, but when you do,
You know that it ain't easy,
Because the hurt's on you.

Ah but don't find yourself running child,
You've got a hand to lean on.
And it don't matter where you've been,
Or how long you've been gone:
Let Him help you on.

It's so good when you've got a friend
Who won't back out even in the end;
He won't let hate grow in your soul--
Won't leave you standing in the cold.
He'll never take His love a go.

And oh how different life can be,
When all the changes don't depend on me;
And it's so good not to bend
Under life time and time again.

And the load's so easy,
Because it's all on Him.

"'And such confidence we have through Christ toward God, not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us as adequate servants of a new covenant. Not of the law, but of the Spirit. For the law kills, but the Spirit gives life.'" (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

Alleluia
Words and Music by John Fischer

"Do this and live," the law commands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
A better way his grace doth bring,
It bids me fly and gives me wings.

Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, praise the Lord!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, praise the Lord!

"'Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, my covenant which they broke. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.'" (Jeremiah 31:33)

The Way of Peace
Words and Music by John Fischer
(Taken from Zechariah's song in Luke 1:67-79)

Blessed be the God of Israel
Who accomplished our release;
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
To guide us into peace!

As He spoke through the mouth of the prophets of old,
Deliverance from our fears.
To give His people the knowledge of his love,
By forgiveness of their sins.

The words he spoke to Abraham our father
Still remain to this day.
In holiness and righteousness before Him,
We shall live all our days.

The tender mercies of our God
With sunrise from on high,
Shall visit us in the shadow of death
To guide us into peace.

"The new covenant was necessary because of man's inability to follow the old one. None of us can live up to the standards of God without failure. That's why Jesus Christ had to come. Only He could live a human life that was totally pleasing to God, and the remarkable thing is that He offers that same life now to anyone who believes in Him. Moses had to leave God in the temple, and try to follow His laws in his own strength. Now, according to the new covenant, our own bodies are the temple of God. We carry Him wherever we go. So if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have more than your sins forgiven and a place in heaven, you have the very God who requires you to live righteously living inside of you, to give you the power to do what He asks. Paul put it this way in second Corinthians 4:7, 'We have this treasure (that's the life of Christ) in earthen vessels (that's our own bodies), that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.' That's what every Christian is, simply a vessel with the living, loving life of Christ inside, ready to be poured out to all who need Him."

I'm A Vessel
Words and Music by John Fischer

I'm a pot, I'm a vessel,
Made to hold something special;
I've got the living, loving, life of Christ inside.

I used to think I was something,
Now I know I'm really nothing,
But a vessel that's made from the dust of the ground,
The value isn't with me but with what's to be found inside.

I'm a pot, I'm a vessel,
Made to hold something special;
I've got the living, loving, life of Christ inside.

I tried to be up on a shelf
Where everyone would see myself,
But a vessel is empty unless it is used,
So take me down and put me wherever you choose--
You choose.

I'm a pot, I'm a vessel,
Made to hold something special;
I've got the living, loving, life of Christ inside.

It's really not an easy road,
In spite of all we've been told,
'Cause a vessel gets handled and moved around,
But that doesn't matter 'cause our true life is found inside.

I'm a pot, I'm a vessel,
Made to hold something special;
I've got the living, loving, life of Christ inside.

"Having the living, loving, life of Christ inside us means a lot of things. It means, for one, that we have strength to go through the hard times that face us in life. Somehow we've gotten the idea that being a Christian is supposed to steer us clear of the normal problems that face everyone today. Someone accepts Christ into his heart only to get up the next morning and discover his car broken down. He probably says, 'Thanks a lot, Lord. This isn't what I signed up for.' But you know what? It's exactly what you signed up for. If you read on in second Corinthians four, you discover the fine print. 'We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.' That's the normal Christian life. Not exactly cruising to heaven, is it? Actually, what God wants to do with our lives is put us through the kind of trials that have the potential of crushing us, and show His strength to sufficient. He wants to build in us a character of endurance in the middle of the difficulties of reality that baffles people. So if there's one thing you need to know, it's that hurting only makes you grow."

We All Get Hurt
Words and Music by Dale Annis

We all get hurt.
We always seem to end up face down in the dirt.
And hounded by the pain we just remain
Satisfied to be hurt again.
We close our minds
To the meaning in the madness that we find.
We prefer to hide out, and rarely try to find out
Just what pain is all about.

But if there's one thing you need to know,
It's that hurting only makes you grow;
And the pain you feel
Is the first step in being healed.
Yes there's one thing you need to do,
It's to get your eyes off you;
Place them on the Lord,
And He'll make pain an open door.

We all get hurt.
We always seem to end up face down in the dirt.
Though hounded by the pain we don't need to remain
Satisfied to be hurt again.
Don't close our mind
To the meaning in the madness that you find.
Don't you try to hide out, but really try to find out
Just what pain is all about.

'Cause if there's one thing you need to know,
It's that hurting only makes you grow;
And the pain you feel
Is the first step in being healed.
Yes there's one thing you need to do,
It's to get your eyes off you;
Place them on the Lord,
And He'll make pain an open door.

"You know what the next verse says? 'For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.' This is a part of Christianity that we rarely talk about. We love to hear about how Christ died for us, but we seldom hear the part about our own death. This death we're talking about is the day to day giving up of our own pride, our own will, our own rights, our own human plans, securities and manipulations. If you truly desire to grow in the Lord, expect to be constantly delivered over to pressing situations that will strip you of trust in yourself, so that the world will see your trust is in God alone. Did you notice, though, there are two parts to this program? Our death and His life. You might call it 'the great exchange.' We give Him our failing, sputtering lives, and He gives us His resurrected one. Our frustrations can actually become the key that releases His power. As someone once said, 'Resurrection power works best in graveyards.'

"And so we've come to our last song. It may sound at first a bit strange because it's a happy song about dying, and the reason we can sing it, is because we are just beginning to learn that only when we die to ourselves can we truly come alive in Christ!"

We Have Died
Words and Music by John Fischer

We have died; We have died.
We have died; we have died (we have died).

If you think it sounds strange that we're singing a song
About dying with a happy tune,
It's because what dies is our selfish lives
So the Lord can come shining through.

We have died; We have died.
We have died; we have died (we have died).

If you find yourself starting to get hot under the collar
And you're getting in an awful fight,
Just remember the solution is you execution
'Cause dead men have no rights.

We have died; We have died.
We have died; we have died (we have died).

If you give it some thought I think you'll soon discover
That there's just no other way.
Can't dress up your life; can't make it shine;
You just got to get it out of the way.

If you think it's a breeze you better reconsider,
Because dying's not an easy road;
But the life He gives in return is worth it,
'Cause your own is such a heavy load.

We have died; We have died.
We have died; we have died (we have died).
We have died; We have died.
We have died; we have died. (We have come alive!)

"'Come unto me all of you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.'" (Matthew 11:29)

Rest In Him
Words and Music by John Fischer

Rest, rest in Him;
Your work is through.
Lean back on His great power;
He'll work through you.

Alleluia (Reprise)
Words and Music by John Fischer

"Do this and live," the law commands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
A better way his grace doth bring,
It bids me fly and gives me wings.

Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, praise the Lord!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, praise the Lord!

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