TWELVE BASKETS
Based on John 6:1-21; Psalm 23:1, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Messages 15-16
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
Come away to a place far across the sea
To a mountain transcendent and trouble-free
Let the crowd try and follow
Hunger shows how we’re hollow
If the flock needs life’s feeding
To the mountain He’s leading
See the boy with five loaves and two fish on hand
Let the people recline on this grassy land
Here we treasure His smallness
And the fragments exhaustless
For the blessings partaking
Let His hands do the breaking
Daylight declines and now fades to black
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not lack
We followed this far without turning back
And we can testify
With a rich supply
Gone is hunger’s pain
Now twelve baskets remain
On our boat tossed about by the wind and waves
All our fears and our doubts cease when Jesus saves
Though the demons we’re dreading
Over waves He is treading
We enjoy His peace-giving
For this journey called living
Daylight declines and now fades to black
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not lack
We followed this far without turning back
And we can testify
With a rich supply
Gone is hunger’s pain
Now twelve baskets remain
JESUS WEPT
Based on John 11:1-44, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Messages 23-34
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
Jesus wept, Lazarus’ soul was sleeping
So bereft, Mary fell on You just weeping
Faith resigned, sealed in the cave that he laid in
She opined, “If You were here, You could save him”
You appeared, giving life abundantly
Moved to tears as they cried, “Come and see”
Jesus wept, Martha was so demanding
As she kept doctrinal understanding
Four days passed, time is a veil from seeing
Glories vast, promised to those believing
And You’ll endure all who claim You came too late
To ensure life out of death, You would wait
Jesus wept, though He is resurrection
Some expect magical intervention
Blind men see, hungry are satisfied
Could it be Lazarus shouldn’t have died?
And You’ll forbear those who love with doubting breath
Since You care more for raising men from death
THE HEALER’S PSALM
Based on John 4:43-54, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Message 13
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
Each fleeting year, a dollar spent
Until there’s nothing left to give and nothing left
The scroll of time, a scene unwinds
Revealing healing needed for all of mankind
A child born, a life will grow
Aside from mother’s joyful hope, in truth we know
Yet pain to see the tragedy
The more we live, the more we die increasingly
A prophet came, made water wine
With no honor from His own, save only signs
A land of reeds, among the weak
A second sign had come for fragile souls who seek
A noble man in Cana found
Despite his child’s buoyant youth, to death was bound
Of life he heard, so undeterred
In desperation came and sought His healing word
Let the signs and wonders meet their own demise
Sir, come down before my little child dies
All the moribund are healed by life You give
Just speak a word and I believe my son will live
Within the mind, emotion, will
There is a dire need to heal which life can fill
Our spirit, soul, and body-whole
When filled with life, will swallow up all death’s control
A tender scar, a contrite heart
Wherever life would enter in, it heals that part
We muse upon the Healer’s psalm
Conveying words of life that hold the healing balm
Let the signs and wonders meet their own demise
Sir, come down before my little child dies
All the moribund are healed by life You give
Just speak a word and I believe my son will live
WOMAN AT THE WELL
Based on John 4:1-24, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Messages 11-12
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
Thirst journeyed and hid at Jacob’s well
Warmth of the midday sun will tell
Tell sinners I shade from your shame provide
Give something to drink life asks of you
Say what you think but if you knew
Knew who it was, bringing the gift of God
There’s a well so deep only emptiness is found
But the fullness of living water’s springs abound
Nevermore you’ll thirst if you’d only drink from this life-giving fount
All your sins I can forgive
If you drink, then you will live
If for living water you ask, I’ll freely give
Sir, You are a prophet, I perceive
Woman, in spirit you’ll believe
All you have tried, nothing else satisfies
Such hour is near and it is now
Worship in spirit I endow
Setting you free unto reality
Let the ancients come and scale this mountain peak
But the worshipers in truthfulness He seeks
Gushing waters burst whenever you take from this life-giving spring
All your sins I will forgive
When you drink, then you will live
If for living water you ask, I’ll freely give
Since the living water you ask I’ll freely give
WATER CHANGED TO WINE
Based on John 2:1-11, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Message 6
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
After the wine had all run out
After the joy it brought about
After the wedding feast was spent
Lending reprieve from discontent
Surely You knew ahead of time
Just when the feast ran out of wine
Then in the end You would reveal
Only Your life our death can heal
When joys of life have come to pass
It’s then You save the best for last
And we find water changed to wine
We were just reeds so weak and frail
From a despised land we hail
Six earthen vessels filled with death
Formed by the Spirit’s living breath
But in the wind the reeds will bend
And vessels’ earthly joy will end
Till we find water changed to wine
Though all our water pots be filled
Life of the grapes would never spill
Even our rites with death are rife
Until we pass from death to life
So when life’s earthly wells run dry
The better life He will supply
When we find water changed to wine
After the wine had all run out
After the joy it brought about
After the wedding feast was spent
Lending reprieve from discontent
When joys of life have come to pass
It’s then You save the best for last
And we find water changed to wine
Oh, we find water changed to wine
MANY RIVERS
Based on John 7:37-39, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Messages 17-18
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
On the last day Jesus stood and cried out
Come to Me and drink; if anyone thirsts
From his being shall flow many rivers
Welling up and changing death into life
Hear life’s cry
Your thirst will be satisfied
And rivers shall flow
Splendor echoes from her English gala
As she throws away her red dancing shoes
Crying out, she says, “How can these things help me?
If there is a God, please satisfy”
Come to Me
If only you will believe
Then rivers shall flow
Pitching tents, we live as wandering pilgrims
Drinking water from a rock on our path
Hallowed memories of our seeking fathers
Steer us toward the promised rivers of rest
Come to Me
The Spirit you will receive
And rivers shall flow
BORN ANEW
Based on John 3:1-17, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Messages 8-9
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
O humble teacher, only a seeker
Would ever come this way by night
You came because of signs, I came to give you life
Though your concern was kingdom teachings to learn
Well, the words I say are true
You cannot see it unless you’re born anew
And just like the wind
Which comes and goes again
So is everyone of the Spirit born
A man was sent, proclaiming men should repent
What he spoke from God was right
He came to testify concerning the light
A voice professed, cried from the wilderness
How water terminates
And by believing how life will germinate
There is another life
Another nature holds
Another realm where life divine unfolds
A serpent wrought for poisoned people distraught
Was lifted on a pole
So when the dying gazed they were then made whole
And God so loved the bitten world from above
That His only Son he gave
In Him believing the world might be saved
And just like the wind
Which comes and goes again
So is everyone of the Spirit born
BLIND
Based on John 9:1-41, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Message 21
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
While it’s day, soon comes the night
In this world there stands a light
Seeking answers, we only find
We are sinners, we are blind
I was born into blindness, I was born a man of clay
I went down in the water, and my clay was washed away
I don’t know if a sinner could have done this thing for me
But this one thing I do know, I was blind, now I see
Are we blind? the prideful claim
In sin’s darkness they will remain
Ever humble, true sight we find
Say, “We see,” He leaves us blind
I was born into blindness, I was born a man of clay
I went down in the water, and my clay was washed away
I don’t know if a sinner could have done this thing for me
But this one thing I do know, I was blind…
And we were born into blindness, we were born just men of clay
When we go down in the water, our old clay is washed away
I don’t know if a sinner could have done this thing for me
But this one thing I do know, I was blind, now I see
FREE
Based on John 8:3-36, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Messages 19-20
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
They set you in the midst with your guilty verdict all intact
Your sin sealed your fate when they caught you in the very act
They used you so they could accuse Him, but Jesus stooping down
The One who could save you, is silent, writing on ground, reservedly
Let the sinless among you
Be the first to throw a stone
One by one did they leave you all alone?
Has no one condemned you?
Did the pious leave you be?
You’re forgiven in Me, if the Son sets you free
You shall be free, oh, free indeed
When you’re chained as a slave under bondage longing to be free
You’ll try all you can to be reckoned with no reality
He came in the form of a serpent—the lifted Son of Man
And freed you from sin with its poison as the great I Am, eternally
Did sin’s fetters enslave you?
Did its darkness so deceive?
Did it bring you to do what you can’t conceive?
Will the pious forgive you?
Will they grant you a reprieve?
If in Me you believe, when the Son sets you free
You shall be free, oh, free indeed
And your freedom will take time,
May the light within you shine to set you free, gradually
Let the questions go unanswered
From the good and evil tree
Know that life’s the only answer that you need
Let the shining within you
Be the person that you see
All the heavens agree, if Son sets you free
You shall be free, oh, free indeed
If the Son sets you free, indeed you shall be, you shall be free, you shall be free
If the truth sets you free, indeed you shall be, you shall be free, you shall be free
WHILE WE WERE YET WEAK
Based on John 5:1-47; Romans 5:6, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Message 14
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
While, while we were yet weak
Our outlook bleak and lying by the waters
Healing angels playing hide and seek
Here, near the gate called Sheep
Where sheltered people lay in dying multitudes
Far too impotent for law to keep
By house of mercy’s pool
Elusive jewel of healing by impossible
Keeping of demanding pious rules
There a certain man was found
Who laid there bound for years until One asked of him
Would you like to be made wholly sound
While we were yet weak, He came to enliven us
The dying are quickened by His voice
Jesus came to speak, and hearing in simple trust
The blind, lame, and withered now rejoice
While we were yet weak
Rise, take your mat and walk
Forget the talk of joyless, hopeless, helplessness
All flesh is too weak to keep the law
Pass out of death to life
My words supply the joy that life eternal brings
Peace to those who suffer mortal strife
While we were yet weak, He came to enliven us
The dying are quickened by His voice
Jesus came to speak, and hearing in simple trust
The blind, lame, and withered now rejoice
While we were yet weak
ZEAL FOR HIS HOUSE
Based on John 2:12-22, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Message 7
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
Just at the time when the feast was near
Jesus went up to the house of prayer
Merchants and traders just sitting there
A whip out of cords came and drove them out
Sometimes He uses the common things
Sometimes our loved ones–the scourges’ strings
Sometimes His coming confusion brings
Purging the ones who would seek Him out
Life’s own purpose is to build
Cleansing earthly things that fill
Saying, take these out of My Father’s house
If My anger should burn, and the tables overturn
Know My zeal for His house does consume
If Earth’s armies deploy and this temple destroy
In three days I will raise it from its grave
Death lays its claim to the damage done
Life comes proclaiming the victory won
Touring its house was God’s only Son
None of death’s forces could hold Him down
Life’s own purpose is to build
Spreading, all the Earth to fill
Making many sons for His Father’s house
If My anger should burn, and the tables overturn
Know My zeal for His house does consume
If Earth’s armies deploy and this temple destroy
In three days I will raise it from its grave
BY ALL MEANS AND FOREVER
Based on John 13:1-17, and Life-study of John, by Witness Lee, Messages 27-28
Music and lyrics by Matthew David Fritz
To the uttermost loving
Lord, You have loved me so much
Still there’s a distance
Wash me in Your utter love
Cleansing my earthly touch
Though we’re not of this world yet
In it we’re living in such
A dusty condition
Wash me in Your utter love
Cleansing my earthly touch
Never sought to do anything that would hinder the love that we share,
No love ever compared
So I’ll stay in Your presence now till the water would flow through my soul
Oh Lord, flow till I’m whole
With humility girded
You served as a slave and as such
A loving example
Wash me in Your utter love
Cleansing my earthly touch
All the while I’ve been occupied by the glorious and beautiful deeds
Of a living child, while a dying soul bleeds
But I’d rather be emptied now, lay the garments of virtue aside
So dethrone, strip all my pride
So it goes without saying
That maybe, I’m saying too much
By all means and forever
Wash me in Your utter love
Cleansing my earthly touch
By all means and forever
Wash me in Your utter love
Cleansing my earthly touch