Evangelism Conference - Part 2 — Henry Blackaby

Music as a Witness to God's Mighty Deeds

One of the most exciting parts about a conference is the music, and I'm so grateful that we have some, a lot of those great old hymns. I had the privilege of being a week-long speaker a week ago at Southwestern Seminary for Music Week, and I chose, for all the chapel services, to go through a moment from the heart of God in Deuteronomy 21 and 22, where Moses is about to depart, and God commanded Moses to teach the Israelites a song.

And he said, I'm going to give you the song, and the song will be a witness to me against my people. You're to teach them this song, and they're to teach their children, and they're to sing it for the rest of their days.

When they go on into the promised land, they're supposed to sing this song. And this song will be a deterrent to sin. So I broke down that song, Deuteronomy 22 is the song. But what it's doing is basically reminding the children of Israel of the greatness of their God and the mighty deeds that he has done.

And when they would sing of the mighty nature and work of God, it would become a deterrent to their sin. Now, I don't know about you, but when I sing a song, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, and I start to sing through those words, it becomes an incredible deterrent to sin.

And it becomes a tremendous stopping of my life for betraying the cross. And so I have placed in my life some of the great hymns of the faith, which have become a sensitizing of my life in the midst of a crazy world.

And I hope you teach your people some of the great hymns that describe the greatness of God and the mighty acts of God. I always would like to have someone who is a songwriter who can pick up the great moments of God's activity that brought Northwest Convention into being.

And some of those great moments where you stood in awe of the work of God. And every convention, sing it, so that there will never be a generation that does not sing the mighty deeds of God that brought this convention into being and has led you to this moment.

And it becomes a witness to God, because did he not do some mighty works over the years and bring some great people who walked with integrity to bring us to this hour. But is it not a tremendous danger if there arises a generation that knew neither the God of their fathers nor the mighty deeds which he has done.

And all of a sudden they begin to take the children of God away from what God has been doing. God always builds on what he's done. He doesn't do a series of activities then to go off on a tangent. When God does some mighty deeds the next thing he does is building on what he has just done.

But if there's a generation that does not remember what God has done, it can be a tragedy for the people of God. So, I always enjoy the singing and the music, and especially when we sing some of those old hymns.

The Testimony of Hymns in Family Worship

And of course, as I still am remaining as young as I can possibly be, but I do remember some of the great hymns that my dad taught me. He was a layman, did church planting in a dance hall, and I can still remember my father as he would introduce a hymn, explain it a bit, because in the congregation was my mother at the piano, my older brother ushering, and my younger brother and I were the congregation.

That was my first church plant that I ever was a part of. But I can still see my dad introducing a hymn to our family as we would sing. And he'd start to weep as he would describe the mighty deeds of God that are found in the hymn.

And to this day, I cannot betray what God has done, especially in the cross. So watch carefully the songs you sing. They're more than just a hymn. They're a witness unto God in the midst of his people of what he has done.

And that can become a great motivation for serving him with all of our heart. Well, tonight we want to take a look again into 1 John, chapter 1. And for those who were not here, we're going to read the first part.

Eternal Life as Fellowship with the Father and the Son

But let me say how grateful I am to be back in the Northwest. I did lean over to John and ask him if he'd ever been here, because he's in for a treat. Now, those of you who have sort of been in the Northwest and stayed in the Northwest don't appreciate it.

You have to get outside of it a while. Then you just hurry back and say, oh, my, it's good to get back. There's a freshness. There's an excitement. There's a whole different atmosphere here than in other parts of our nation, unknown.

But I have loved the Northwest. And if I count the years I grew up in British Columbia, I spent 40 years of my life in the Northwest or with the Northwest Convention. And so it's always a delight for me to be back and to see so many of you who have meant so much in my own personal life.

We're wanting to talk about what John describes as the essence of the Christian life and the essence of the walking of the Christian life. So this morning we spoke or this afternoon we spoke for the first five verses, which I'll read, or the first four.

And then I want us to move into our theme for tonight, walking in the light as he is in the light. John is bearing witness here, and he makes this wonderful statement, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life, the life was manifested.

And we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifest to us. Now if you read that one carefully, as we mentioned earlier, you're suddenly going to be taken by surprise because he's describing eternal life as a person.

And he said we handled the life of God, that eternal life that was with the Father. Now many of our difficulties when we come to the Bible is we bring too much spiritual baggage with us. And all the things we've heard or been taught or read, we bring them all with us, and the Spirit of God cannot bring freshness to us to help us to see something we've not seen.

But we've tried to help us to understand eternal life is an intimate personal relationship with God the Father and God the Son. Eternal life is not merely going to heaven when you die. So if you're saying you want to experience eternal life, most people think, yeah, I want to go to heaven when I die.

But God would say, no, eternal life is found in my Son. And when you come to him, you come to me. And eternal life is progressively becoming more and more acquainted with and experiencing the wonders of God the Father and God the Son in your daily experience with him, as we read from John 17 .3.

So here, watch him as he describes where the fellowship is. So he says, that which we have seen, which we heard, we declare to you, that you may also have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship, and the word is koinonia.

It is that intimate, personal, experiential, complete immersion in the love of God. As God expresses his love to you and you respond back, that's called koinonia. He said, truly, our koinonia is with the Father.

Now I could stop and ask you the question. Koinonia. Can you say without a question of a doubt, beyond any discussion, that you are having an intimate, ongoing, personal, daily relationship with the God of the universe, with God the Father?

Or do you simply believe in your head about him, but you're not experiencing him? Well, he said, truly, our intimate fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full.

Walking in the Light Rather Than Darkness

Now I want us now to move into a discussion of light and darkness. Now one thing about the scripture. It is painfully clear. A child could understand it. And in these moments, we're going to say, if you claim to be walking in the light but you're walking in darkness, you're a liar.

And the truth is not in you. I see a lot of people who tell me they are walking with God, but their life is everything but. But they keep saying, I'm walking with God, but they're walking in darkness.

And we'll talk about that in a moment. So watch what he says about how God functions as light. And if we walk in the light, something's going to happen. And then we're going to read into the second chapter where he talks about darkness and the light.

Verse five. This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Would you agree with that? With God is perfect light. Now what would happen if you're walking in fellowship with God?

What are you walking in? Perfect light. So, you have no problem about the will of God. If you're walking in fellowship with him, you're dead center in the will of God. You don't have to find the will of God, you just have to walk in it.

Because in him, there's no darkness at all. There's no confusion with God. There's no shadows. No darkness. Everything is perfectly clear. And if you walk in the light as he is in the light, there will be no darkness in your life at all.

So, how would you know if you're walking in the light? You wouldn't have any darkness. Why do so many people say, I just don't understand. I said, well, just walk in the light and you'll understand. I'm serious.

It's not that complicated. But too many people walk in darkness and want to call it light and then complain to God. I can't see my way. He said, why can't you see? Well, it's so dark around me spiritually.

So, you can't walk in darkness and light at the same time. You either are walking in the light or you're walking in darkness. So, let's continue to hear what he says. This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.

Knowing Christ Through Obedience

Now move down with me to verse 3 of the second chapter. Now by this we know that we know him. You know if you ever have questions about whether you know him or not, read the Bible. I mean this is not difficult.

It says by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. That means if we're living it out. Now the scripture says you and I are to practice everything that Christ has commanded. Are you walking in the light of every commandment that Jesus gave?

We mentioned today. That's the Great Commission. We all believe in the Great Commission except we just don't practice it. The last part of the Great Commission is teach them to practice, live out in their life everything I have, what, commanded.

We take what Jesus says as wonderful suggestions. They're not. They're commands and they're your life. And if you read in John 14, 21, 23 and 24 it goes something like this. This is my translation. If you practice what I've commanded it means you love me and my father will love you and I will love you and we'll take up residence with you and I'll manifest myself to you.

24 says if you're not doing what I've commanded it means you don't love me. End discussion. Then he says and what I've told you is from my father. In other words the heavenly father is saying if you don't do anything my son tells you then your problem is not obedience.

Your problem is you've lost your love. You've lost your relationship. Now I'm convinced you cannot walk in an intimate relationship to God and not love him. That's spiritually impossible. Now too many walk in a head knowledge about him but they don't walk with him.

And we'll go through this in a moment. To help you to see the difference. What happens when you walk in the light as he is in the light? Well we need to finish reading from the second chapter. Let me read again verse three.

Now by this we know that we know him. If we keep or practice or live out in our life his commandments. He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps or practices or lives out as a way of life his word truly the love of God is completed perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked.

Now is that one difficult to understand? It says he who says he abides in. He has taken up residence in. He is intimately related with him ought also then to walk as he walked. It's not religion. It's relationship.

And you must walk in the relationship. But if you're walking in a relationship with Jesus you're going to look just like him. And that means how you relate to your wife or your husband. For instance I have been married 43 years.

Matter of fact Marilyn has too. It's been a wonderful pilgrimage. And I read a scripture early in our marriage that affected the way I relate to her. In John 13 20 Jesus said by the way men let me ask you.

And if your wife's right next to you be careful how you answer this. How many of you as a child of God believe that God brought you your wife? Don't raise your hand. I know that you would. Well maybe I should let you because your wife's going to say I want to see what he does.

If you believe that God brought you your wife. This really affected the way I've related to Marilyn. John 13 20 says how you receive the one I sent you. You've received me. And how you receive me you've received the one who sent me.

Do you know that how I receive Marilyn I receive my Lord. And I receive the Heavenly Father. How I treat her is how I'm treating my Lord and the Heavenly Father. That scripture helped me a great deal.

Receiving Family as a Stewardship from God

Now once I have the scripture I have the light. And I need to walk in the light as he is in the light. And that scripture has helped me profoundly in relationship not only to my wife but to my children.

Do you believe that God gave you your children? I do profoundly. And do you believe that God gave you your grandchildren? Even three-year-olds. Do you believe God gave you three-year-olds? In November while my daughter was having her second child she was there at least three days and they left me from seven in the morning to nine at night with my three-year-old granddaughter who is energy personified.

I said she is a whirling dervish. And when I finished three days with a three-year-old I was a dabbling idiot. But when that was over I thanked God for bringing me that little girl. I got a picture of her.

But I want you to know never have I ever had a sense of the awful stewardship of each one of my fourteen grandchildren. And over two months I sat down and looked into the eyes of each one of them thanking God for them and saying within my heart I believe with all my heart you brought this one to me.

And how I receive this one I receive you. And I receive my Heavenly Father. Now if you walk in the light as he is in the light you'll walk in that light and it'll make a profound difference in how you relate to those God gave you.

Love, Hatred, and the Evidence of Walking in the Light

Well let me finish this passage because it talks to you about light and darkness. Verse seven. Brethren I write no new commandment to you but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.

Again a new commandment I write to you which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now.

He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

So we're speaking for these moments about walking in the light as he is in the light. Let me give an illustration from the life of the Lord Jesus. You have to catch the big picture of what it is like to walk alongside of the light of the world.

He said he was the light of the world but he turned around and said to the disciples you also are the light of the world. If you walk in the light as he is in the light you'll begin to express that. You remember the difference between darkness and light in how Jesus saw things and how the disciples saw things.

The Woman at the Well and the Light of the Gospel

What did the disciples see with the woman at the well? They needed to walk in the light as Jesus was in the light because he sees what they don't see. He has a set of spiritual eyes that is perfect light and he sees what this woman can become but way beyond that he could see how a whole nation could come to know the Lord.

The disciples walked in darkness and they had to have the same kind of light that Jesus had and I want you to catch the implications of it. And then I'll tell you how I tried to apply this. The woman at the well was not a paragon of virtue.

She had a history which Jesus knew. But when the rule of God, the kingdom of God comes into a solitary life that rule of God, that kingdom of God begins to work like leaven. It begins to affect an ever-widening circle.

And so that woman stayed with Jesus long enough until Jesus brought the light of the love of God into her heart and God took up full residence in her life. She entered the kingdom of God. What was her immediate response?

She ran back home and the entire group in the city came out and they believed. And everything began to change. The rule of God went from one life to a whole city and out of that city to the next city.

Because when you come to the eighth chapter of the book of Acts, you find an amazing thing happening. There's revival breaking out down in Samaria, which is the city right next to Sychar. In other words, the light that came into the life of one woman lit up a whole city and that began to light up the next city.

And then the Spirit of God had to say to Philip, you better go down and check it out. Revival is happening and he went down to bear witness unto Christ and help them to understand the fullness of what was experiencing.

Then the church at Jerusalem, and the reason I sense that they may be Baptist is because they're always late. And after everything is going and the fire is going, then they say, why don't we just send Peter and John down to see how it's going.

Now I believe God has a tremendous sense of humor, but a tremendous sense of discipline by ordering the church to send John down. Because the scripture says that when they went back home, they went and preached the good news in every town and village in Samaria.

And I have a feeling God said, now John, I want you to go by this one. That's the one that would have been ashes. That's the one you asked if we should call down fire on them. I want you to see what it is like to walk in the light as I am in the light.

I didn't come to destroy, I came to save. And you could never see that if you weren't walking with me. But if you walk in the light as he is in the light, you'll see things you've never seen before. And so the gospel went from one woman to the entire nation of Samaria.

Seeing God's Call in People from Every Nation

Well, I happened to be speaking in First Baptist Coral Gables in Florida. And I realized that I was probably, there was about a thousand in both services, and I realized I was speaking to probably people from 25, 30 countries.

So I turned to that group and I said, when you came to Florida from your country, it was here that you became a Christian. And when God takes up a resident in your life, you see things different than you've ever seen before.

Is it not possible that many of you who became a Christian here, suddenly you said, my mom and dad have never heard this story back in my country. My little village has never had this story ever told to them.

Then I turned to them and I said, could it be that you're the woman at the well for your entire nation? Well, we finished the service, the altar was filled with broken people. And while I was standing there, a tall stately black lady came up to me.

And she was well-dressed, but she was crying her heart out. She looked at me through her tears and said, God has told me I'm the woman at the well for my country, Liberia. Woman right next to her said, God's told me I'm the woman at the well for my country, Columbia.

A man came and said, I'm a businessman. I'm the one for my country in Costa Rica. Then another man, tears streaming down his face, stepped up and said, God's told me I'm the man for my country of Pakistan.

And then a man came up, deeply broken, and said, I have a doctor's degree in engineering and God's told me I'm the man for my country of India. Do you know what happens when you walk in the light as he is in the light?

I mean, there's no shadows there. There's no darkness there. When you walk in the light as he is in the light, you see your world completely different. And there's no discussion because it's clear. Our greatest difficulty is not that we don't know the will of God.

Our difficulty is that we do know the will of God and we're rebelling against it. And we're somehow demanding that God give us six proofs that it is his will. And all he says is, well, all you need to do is walk in the light as I'm in the light.

Whatever you see, that's what I see. What do you see in Washington, Oregon? What do you see in the town where you are? Do you have eyes to see what he sees? I remember, and many of you have heard me often tell the story of going to this little church in Saskatchewan.

Seeing the Harvest in Towns and Villages

And I was reading the scripture in Matthew 9 where he says he went about all the towns and villages and cities. And by the way, Jesus seems to always be doing three things in this order. He was teaching and he was preaching and he was healing in that order.

Jesus always taught the truth. He was always unfolding the truth of God. He was always helping people to know where the light was. And then after he had taught, he then began to preach to pull them to a decision based on the truth that he had taught.

Then he was always looking for the transformed lives of those who did. And so it says that's what he was doing. But when he went about all the towns, he then saw the multitudes. And he was moved with compassion because they were fainting.

They were dying. They were like sheep without a shepherd. And he turned to his disciples and said, this is my interspersing. I don't know why you don't see what I see, but I want you to pray that the Lord of the harvest will thrust forth laborers into his harvest.

Do you not see what I see? These people are ready to hear. But there's nobody who's going. You need to see what I see. I see the multitudes and I see my heavenly Father waiting to see for me to ask him to thrust forth laborers.

Don't you see what I see? Well, it's one thing to understand what he's saying. It's another thing to practice it. Have you ever let that passage of Scripture radically affect your life? Have you ever walked in the light of the cities and the towns and the villages and let what Jesus see be placed over your heart to let him open your eyes and see?

And as I looked out over the province of Saskatchewan, I saw hundreds of towns and villages with no evangelical witness of any kind and some that never had a church in the history of the town. And one of those, a little town called Love, Saskatchewan, that still had street fights on Main Street.

When we went in, no church of any kind. Not one person from that town had a library card in the nearest library. It was an interesting place. But when you go, folks, you'll just pass by that unless you walk in the light as he is in the light and see what he sees and hear what he hears and then respond to how he's responding.

And so we started a little work there and the town council got together and heard that we were coming and they voted to give us an acre of land on Main Street. And the mayor paid for the transfer fee because he didn't want to have his kids and grandkids grow up without at least some religion.

And that church has started several other mission churches. Well, I don't know about you, but when I read that passage, how Jesus looked on the towns and villages and cities and saw them fainting as sheep having no shepherd.

And then he invited me to walk in the light as he was in the light. I began to weep over the towns and villages and cities all over that province. And then he took me to the Native Indian reserves, over a hundred, and God began to break my heart and we began to say, Father, help me to see what you see.

Help me to feel what you feel. Help me to hear the cry. And I don't know what you do when you walk in the light as he is in the light, but you all of a sudden see individuals who are crying out to the Lord, won't you stop by here?

We went to a place called Kyle and they had been praying for 23 years that someone would come and lead a Bible study and start a church. And I can still see and hear the lady as she cried, having just accepted Christ in my office and then telling me, would you come to our town?

I've been doing, I've been praying to God for 23 years that someone would come. And I said, how about tomorrow night? We got there and there were 19 adults gathered and they were crying out unto God. Do you know what happens when you walk in the light as he is in the light?

You begin to see what he sees. And we saw a little town called Allen, 40 miles to the east, did a vacation Bible school. And I did it in a way I'd never done it in all my life. I just said, Lord, help me to walk in the light as you're in the light.

Help me to see what you see. There's no shadows with you. In that town there was just one great big tall, you could see it across the flat prairies Catholic church. And so, isn't it amazing how God can get you, if you don't bring too much baggage with you, you can see a lot of things that God sees.

And so, as we gave the parents' night invitation, I said, are there any of you here who are interested in starting a Baptist church? I'd never given that invitation in my life before. And a little gray-haired lady came down, weeping her heart out.

She said, I'm a Baptist. She said, I've been praying for 15 years that someone would bring a church to our place. Right behind her was old Russian TV George, fixed all the TVs. He said, I was saved in a Russian Baptist church.

I got away from the Lord, got into alcohol. And God brought me back about five years ago, and every day for three to five hours a day for five years I've been praying that someone would bring a Baptist church to our town.

Now, folks, we didn't have to take a survey to see how many Baptists were there. We didn't have to go to our strategy planning group. God had just opened our eyes to see what he saw, and we joined him.

And we found town after town after town who had been praying for years. We just had not been walking in the light as he was in the light. But when we did, we began to see things that he saw. I can tell you so many stories that match the New Testament.

Seeing People Through a Kingdom Perspective

When blind Bartimaeus was crying out, what did Jesus see? When Zacchaeus was up a tree, what did he see? He had to try and get his disciples to walk in the light as he was walking in the light. Because he saw things they didn't see.

He had a kingdom view. Could I suggest that there's not a community in all of Washington, Oregon that God is not already at work in the midst of it if you just saw it? But our problem is, like a lot of people would say to me, well, Henry, how large do you have to be before you can start a mission church?

I said, I don't know. We started one the day I got there. And we had ten people and they couldn't pay my salary. Well, how could you do that? I said, I couldn't. But I knew God could. And God can show me what he's doing, and I need to respond.

If some folk come from 90 miles to the north and meet you when you arrive from Southern California and happen to get there when you did, and said, we've been praying for seven years for a church, and about three or four months ago we heard that you were coming.

So we began to pray, and God has told us you're to be our pastor too, and we've come to announce it. Now, I don't know what you would do. I just am obedient. Do you know the key to the Christian life is obedience?

You've just got to obey him. You don't ask him how you're going to do it. And some of you have heard me say in the past, many knowing we'd come from Southern California, they said, have you ever been in a blizzard before?

I said, not that I can remember. They said, well, you can't make a promise to go to that place up there 90 miles over dirt road for twice a week. You can't make that kind of promise because you'll be prevented many, many times.

Well, all I knew to say is, you know, I read in the Bible that the God I serve can still a storm on the Sea of Galilee. If he can still a storm on the Sea of Galilee, he can still a storm in Saskatchewan to let his servant take the gospel to the places where he wants us to go.

And I bear witness, I went twice a week for two full years and never once was I ever prevented by a storm. It's just a matter of walking in the light as he is in the light. And what a difference it makes.

You see things different. You're not afraid. You know, when you don't have enough light, you get afraid. But when you walk in the light as he is in the light, you don't need to be afraid. He said, I've given you eyes to see, I've given you ears to hear, I've given you a heart to understand.

Now just walk with me and listen to what I say and watch to see what I tell you. So he showed them the multitudes. I don't know what you've done when you walk with the Lord. I remember having an invitation to go to the great cities of the Orient.

Walking in the Light Among the Multitudes

I'd never been to Asia. But we were about to go. And caught me by surprise about two days before we were to leave for a five-week trip around all of those Asian countries, including Korea and Seoul, Korea.

And Jerry Rankin from the IMB called me and he said, I just want you to know that I'm aware you're going to Asia. And I'm going to pray that God will help you to handle the multitudes. He said it is an awesome thing for you to get into the middle of the multitudes in Asia without a broken heart.

You will not be able to handle it unless we pray for you. The next day, Avery Willis called and said, Henry, I just want you to know I'm aware you're going. And I'm going to pray that you'll learn how to handle the multitudes.

And I'll tell you, I wept my heart out as I went to Tokyo and went to Manila and to Seoul, Korea. And I went over all of those countries. And I saw the multitudes and my heart said, nearly every one of these is going into a godless eternity without God and without hope.