With America on the verge of God\u2019s judgment, God\u2019s people hold America\u2019s future in their hands, Henry Blackaby during Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary\u2019s annual Church Music Workshop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are right in the middle of an incredible moment when I think \u2026 God has turned His face from His people,\u201d said Blackaby, author of the best-seller \u201cExperiencing God,\u201d said in a three-part chapel series during the Feb. 17-19 gathering at the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary.<\/p>\n
Blackaby spoke from Deuteronomy 31 and 32, emphasizing the song given to Moses in chapter 32 to give to the people of Israel to keep them walking faithfully with God and give them direction back to Him when they had lost their way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat song [today] is a plumb line about God and his mighty deeds that when you sing [it], it immediately brings you under conviction for sin?\u201d Blackaby asked. \u201cOr are we creating songs that avoid that completely?\u201d<\/p>\n
The people to whom the song was given were the ones God had designed to be the instrument in His hands to transform the rest of the world, Blackaby said. \u201cBut when their heart departs, God departs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An estimated 7 million people across America currently are praying for revival, Blackaby said. Additionally, several thousand people are fasting for 40 days and asking for revival in the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy does revival tarry?\u201d Blackaby asked. After all, \u201cWe have been told that if you can get 2 million people praying for revival, God is bound to do it, or if you can get a million people fasting for 40 days, God is bound to bring revival. Well, if He does not [bring revival], we better ask Him why. But I do not hear anybody asking why.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defining idolatry as \u201cfashioning God after what we want Him to be, so that He is no longer the God of the Bible,\u201d Blackaby said an incredible amount of idolatry runs across the evangelical Christian community. He illustrated his point by noting that in asking numerous people the question, \u201cWhen was the last time you heard a message on hell?\u201d only a handful could recall such a message.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to know why we don\u2019t hear a message on hell? It is not seeker- friendly. Folks, if you go to be seeker-friendly and you are not God-friendly, God will indict you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bible can be an idol, Blackaby said, when Christians make the Scriptures reflect how they want God to be instead of who He really is. For example, Luke 19:10 says that the Son of Man came to \u201cseek and to save what was lost.\u201d This passage is almost universally interpreted as applying to unsaved people, Blackaby said. But, he noted, Jesus gave this teaching when quoting from Ezekiel 34 and therefore He was addressing believers rather than unbelievers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen God\u2019s people are not repenting, then they are not the instruments through which God can touch a lost world,\u201d Blackaby said.<\/p>\n
Christians are often theological conservatives but practical atheists, Blackaby said in the second message of his series Feb. 18.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur problem is not in our doctrinal correctness,\u201d Blackaby said. \u201cOur problem is that we are not living it. And doctrinal correctness according to the Scripture is not head knowledge. It is heart knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though the Pharisees were doctrinally correct, Blackaby noted, their hearts were far from God.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour life must be the incarnation of every message you preach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Blackaby compared the Israelites described in Deuteronomy to present-day ministers who let the world shape their ministry rather than let their ministry shape the world.<\/p>\n
A holy minister will look to the Word of God in every circumstance, Blackaby said, urging the seminarians to begin focusing on the Bible during their time at Southwestern. The Bible should be their most studied book, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not the manuals of men or the conversations in the back room that are your guide. It is this book,\u201d Blackaby said as he lifted his Bible. \u201cWhen you are in class, always ask the professors, \u2018What Scripture is the basis of what you just said?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In his final message of the series, Blackaby reminded that God commanded Moses to teach the Israelites the song found in Deuteronomy 32 to address their propensity to forget about their covenant relationship with God. The song commands that God\u2019s deeds be remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot guide a congregation unless you know what God has been doing before you go there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To illustrate, Blackaby emphasized the importance of studying the history and origins of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Program channel of missions and ministry support. \u201cThe Cooperative Program is not something men designed, but something God put together,\u201d Blackaby said.<\/p>\n
The songs Christians sing today should take the same progression of the song God gave the Israelites in remembrance of all His mighty acts, Blackaby said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet the people know that the God they serve is still in place. The God who led them across the Red Sea and took them across the river Jordan, defeated every enemy that came against them, provided for all their needs, is the same God we worship on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave we forgotten the cross? Well then sing it. And let the singing of the magnitude of the love of the cross come through. \u2026 Sing the truth of God into the mouths and hearts of the people of God,\u201d Blackaby said.<\/p>\n
Blackaby concluded his series with a challenge: \u201cThe Holy Spirit is a flawless teacher and He is fully in place to bring all of His people dead-center into a relationship with God for this our day,\u201d he said. \u201cAmerica is in a terrible condition and God\u2019s people are making a negligible difference. But you can make a great difference. You can stay very close to the Word of God and remember the mighty deeds of God.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With America on the verge of God\u2019s judgment, God\u2019s people hold America\u2019s future in their hands, Henry Blackaby during Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary\u2019s annual Church Music Workshop. \u201cWe are right in the middle of an incredible moment when I think \u2026 God has turned His face from His people,\u201d said Blackaby, author of the best-seller […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2211,4486,467,4484,4485,41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}