Exalt the Voice

Would you be free from the burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb.

There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. When I am stateside or on the island of Guam for a few weeks, I thrill to sing that powerful song out in public. Demons and devils flee at the sound of it.

Here in Japan, I sing similar powerful songs in the Japanese language. I am missionary Richard Yerby in Japan, and this sermon's title is Exalt the Voice. Picking up where I ended my last sermon, in Revelation chapter 2 verse 3, God says the following about the church at Ephesus, I urge you to proclaim, thus saith the Lord God, loud and long to everyone you can, for our Lord's precious name's sake and for his great glory, regardless of whether they hear it or not.

Receive or reject those words. Do it long hours and do not faint, and have patience, as the rewards you gain from it will greatly increase with passing time. From long experience, I know that to be a fact.

I pray that you will come to know fully what a wonderful and glorious thing it is to be like Job and not be quiet about God. May God greatly bless you as you go about proclaiming his great glory to everyone. I'm going to pray, Heavenly Father, I earnestly pray for all the Christian believers who hear this, speak most clearly to their hearts of the importance of all us believers proclaiming, thus saith the Lord God, to everyone we can.

Please cause my fellow Christians to know without any doubt that although gaining converts to thee is the most wonderful accomplishment, it is not the only goal accomplished by our preaching. Show these friends listening now just how important it is to thee that they impart thy words to the ungodly souls around them for the purpose of condemning the people who reject those words and turn thy glory into shame with the sinful life they live on earth. Please help the believers who hear this to be the verbal testimony thou wouldest have them to be.

Show them the importance of not getting discouraged by the lack of positive reactions from the hearers. Please give them courage and endurance. Help them to be like Job and not be quiet about thee.

Please grant these things I most humbly pray. Amen. You pray with me now.

Heavenly Father, please help me to think most seriously on the words of this sermon. Please confirm to me the truth of it. Please lead and guide me ever so clearly concerning what thou wouldest have me to do about preaching, thus said the Lord God to everyone.

And please give me a willing and obedient heart to totally obey thee in doing thy will for me concerning being a verbal witness for thee. I want to be like perfect and upright Job and be able to say neither was I quiet. Please deal with all other Christians who hear this to fully open their hearts to thee and receive and act on what thou does teach them about speaking out for thee.

These things I only ask to thee dear Lord. Amen. Upon completing two years of Japanese language study in 1977, I soon moved to this town, rural town of Matsuida in central Japan where I still live now in the year 2025.

I knew no person in this town when I first came here, but I immediately started telling these Japanese people around me about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Very few of them were interested in hearing about him, so attendance was most low at the services I held in my house and in a community hall at the start, though I advertised those services to everyone as best I could. Because the people refused the invitations to my evangelistic services, I soon began to preach out in public, definitely led by God to do so.

You stubbornly refused my invitation to come to church, so I'll just bring church to you where you are. You refuse to come to me to listen, so I'll simply go to you and cause you to hear, thus said the Lord God. This is a small rural town with seldom ever a crowd of people anywhere out in public, but I was plenty content with the congregation of one or two eternal souls, the value of each being greater than the value of the whole world.

I do not use any mechanical means to amplify my voice, so I commonly chose the quieter areas, usually residential areas. In this crowded nation, many housing areas are most compact with little or no yard area around the house, so the houses are typically most close to each side of narrow streets. Some of those streets are no wider than a sidewalk with little or no vehicular traffic on them, plenty quiet for my church service.

I would stand in the street, read a Bible text of one or more verses, preach on that text for three minutes or less, then read the text again and close the sermon. Then I would walk on about this to about the second house down the street, choose a different text, preach a different sermon on it, and literally walk all over town preaching, thus said the Lord God to everyone. It was glorious, it still is, neither was I quiet.

Of course, the density of the number of houses vary in the many areas where I preached on the streets. In the denser areas, the individual plot of land each house stands on is often less than 30 feet across along the street, often with no space between each house. All this nation well accommodates street preaching.

By raising my voice somewhat, the people inside three houses in front and three houses behind me on one side of the street only could hear my preaching as I stood in one place. On many narrow streets where I preached a short sermon standing in one place, people in six houses on each side of the street, a total of 12 houses, could hear, thus said the Lord God, though they adamantly refused to come to church. In the daytime, when many folks are away from home, likely there was still up to 10 people or so total in those 12 houses, and when I preached in evening hours and most everyone was at home, likely at times up to 30 people heard me each time.

No doubt at times many fewer souls than those two numbers I just quoted. My main point is people heard. None of them would put forth any effort to go to church, so I profoundly thank God for showing me a most easy way to get them in church.

Anyway, just go to where they are passing their earthly existence and preach to them. In what few churches there are here in Japan, attendance is so low. I know of churches that on some Sunday mornings, the pastor and his family are the only people who show up for the Sunday morning church service.

Throughout the churches in this heathen nation, Sunday morning church attendance of two people or five or ten people or so is not so rare regretfully, and for a lost person to be among that small number in church is most rare. Few faithful Christians come out, but when I preach out in public, maybe an average of five to ten lost people hear each of my short sermons. It thrills me to simply take the preaching to them wherever they are, passing their resistance as they refuse to come to church.

Neither was I quiet. Thank you, Brother Job, for telling me that. With my maker as my helper, I'm striving to be likewise.

I watch missionary pastors here and Japanese pastors wallowing in the slew of despondency and despair as Sunday after Sunday, few or no people show up at their church, and I quickly decided that was not the life for me, so I just walked out and walked through town preaching, and in one single day, scores of stiff-hearted rebellious God-haters hear, thus said the Lord God. Also, God fills me with joy, unspeakable, of preaching to them. Ever so blessed be the life of not being quiet about God.

Oh, it is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Oh, the half has never yet been told.

I suppose that the half that is untold on earth will be told when we are in glory land. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, I want to know that blessed glorious life also.

Please give me the courage to speak to everyone I can about thee. Help me to be like Job. Help all other believers to be like him also.

Amen. In the compact housing areas here, there are alley houses accessible only by a narrow lane five feet or so wide, too narrow for four-wheel vehicles. Usually small houses stand right adjacent to each side of that narrow lane, no yard out front.

And when I stand there on that narrow passageway and preach, Christ-haters inside the security of their own dwellings are often within 10 feet of me. When I started the street preaching in 1979, very few houses here had air conditioning then. So when the weather was warm, often doors and windows would be open.

Even with doors and windows shut during cold weather, still the houses are far from soundproof. And glory to God, it's heaven on earth standing out there preaching to them. Pastor, doesn't your flock of sheep amaze you, many of them sitting as far back in the church building as possible? God quickly taught me a good way to get people within close range of my preaching.

I have no pulpit, no pews, no building. I just go to where people are and watch their amazement as they find themselves closer to me than your front empty pews are to your pulpit as I lift my voice on the street. I glory in this close relationship with these Japanese idol worshipers who despise to hear my preaching.

And they so wish I was back on the other side of the world in Alabama from whence I came. Glory to God, what a blessing to be out here holding forth the word of life to idol worshipers. Pastor, if it displeases you that many people in your congregation seat themselves as far from your pulpit as possible, then don't forget that you are mobile yourself, especially with a wireless microphone.

As you preach your sermon, you can troop around throughout your church's sanctuary and stand close to anyone seated there with whom you desire to have a close preaching relationship. At the end of each of my short three-minute sermons, I would walk about one and a half or two houses down the street, stop there, preach a different short sermon, and keep repeating that mobile preaching all over town till my legs or my voice or my lungs were too tired to continue. You might think a three-minute sermon is far too short, but God led me to keep those sermons short for several reasons.

If it gets very long, what few people do listen will quickly tire of listening and tune me out. Also, though I am standing out in a public street as I preach, what I am doing is somewhat an invasion of the privacy of the people so close by inside their own houses. In this crowded nation, sufficient personal privacy is often lacking, adding stress to life in Japan.

So, I try to be as considerate as possible. As I move along, preaching at about every second house, my voice carries far enough for those inside each house to hear at least two of my sermons. And I can speak much meat in six minutes.

I do no small talk or chitchat, just straight meaty Bible preaching or singing of hymns, mainly about salvation. Also, preaching such short sermons doesn't limit the time I can preach, as I keep changing locations like that all day, or as long as I have the strength and voice to do so. Preaching for hours a day, six or seven days a week, it would often be a week or more before I would repeat preaching on the same street to the same people.

Some days I preached over 100 of those short sermons, some very few days. Likely an average of five souls or so heard each sermon. Before when I mentioned that at times possibly over 30 people heard me at one time, that was the most densely crowded areas only, and in the evening hours only.

Likely on several days, I preached to over 500 people a day. A daily average might have been 200 souls or so. There were times when I did that for six or seven days a week, preaching in person to over 1200 people a week in this rural area without amplifying my voice or wasting one small yen coin of money or one second of time printing service invitations and passing them out to people who would all refuse the invitation.

Glory to God, I just went out and preached to them without bothering to give him an invitation that they would be able to refuse. Neither was I quiet. Missionary pastors here and Japanese pastors faithfully prepare well for their Sunday morning service, pray hard for people to come, but then few or none come.

It is a good thing for them to have a church service every Sunday morning, but if that pastor is disappointed with attendance at that one hour church service, another 167 hours remain during that week, and those pastors have any desire at all to not be quiet like perfect and upright Job, then they also have the glorious opportunity to do as I do, go out and preach weekly to over 1,000 God-hating idolaters a week. Rich joy it brings. Neither was I quiet.

Having preached thousands of those short sermons over several years, there very well could have been a few times when no one happened to be at home in any of the houses within my hearing. If so, that was most rare, but even in that case, likely the many demons in each house cringed at that preaching. Most Japanese idols, most Japanese people worship idols inside their houses, therefore the demons behind those idols take up lodging there, and I believe it glorifies God for me to torment them with good Bible preaching.

In a previous sermon, I told of once when I was preaching, no one was inside outside, and I had no idea of how few souls were hidden inside the surrounding houses. When a boy about eight years old came by and asked me why I was talking when there was no one around to hear it, amusing be his comment, seeing as how he was there to hear for all eternity. By their words and actions, adults sometime imply that I look foolish and that I am foolish, preaching with few or no people inside.

By the foolishness of preaching, the Bible tells us, well, so be it if I look foolish. That is until I meet them all at God's throne of judgment, then we will see who looks foolish at that time. Neither was I quiet.

Amen. Listen to other various reactions I got. Japanese typically do not show much emotion, so overall, visible reaction was rare to my street preaching.

Most people just calmly continued what they were doing. The first time each one heard me, I had no doubt they listened well out of curiosity. Respecting their privacy, I would try my best to avoid standing directly in front of a window or open door where I could look in at them inside their own houses, so very close by.

But at times that was hard to avoid, so one common reaction was that the people would close windows, curtains, and doors, usually as stealthily as possible. Often they would also lock the door. They would close up for privacy and lock up because they expected me to next come calling at their door, wanting to come inside to talk to them after I finished my street preaching.

And once they got that door locked, they would have refused to respond to me had I knocked on it. Another reason was to give me the silent message that they opposed what I was doing and didn't want me to ask to come into their houses. Some people would display kindness.

Some would say thank you in sincerity. On a rare occasion, someone would invite me inside their house, usually not to hear more of the Bible, but just to have a friendly visit. One family asked me in and served me supper as it was meal time.

At a different time and place, a man marched his wife and two children outside the house to where I was, and the entire family stood at a polite parade rest during my short sermon, then thanked me most kindly and went back inside. That act profoundly touched me. Say them Lord.

Once in the dark about 7 p.m., I was using my small military pilot's flashlight to light my written texts for reading them. The small light was most convenient, just sufficient to make the small circle of light I needed on the page of my Bible, and I chose that little light as being perfect for the job. Anyway, this one night as I preached using that light, a house window nearby came sliding open, and a woman about 55 years old stood in the window silently watching and listening.

When I finished my sermon and started walking on, she hurriedly closed the window and soon came out the door calling to me as I walked away. I stopped and she came up to me, offering me a large, long flashlight of three batteries. Take this.

Your light is too small. I was touched by her wanting to help me, and in such a big way, and I had plenty of trouble convincing her that my small light was sufficient. Bless her heart.

That was 1979. She is in eternity now. I hope she trusted in Christ while on earth.

There were two women in different communities and at different times who came to the services in my house because they heard me preaching in front of their houses. Sachiko, an 18-year-old high school senior girl attended regularly for a time, made a decision to receive Christ and then brought a friend to the service once, another high school girl. Sachiko witnessed at her high school and tried to get other friends to come to my services.

Her classmates harshly ridiculed her for witnessing and for being a Christian. She attended my services in 1980, and I haven't seen or heard from her since. Please pray for Sachiko, for blessings upon her.

The other woman at a different time was demon-possessed, came to my house twice, and then I never saw her again. As a circuit-walking street preacher, I would repeat much of my route every week or so. I majored on the more densely populated areas and didn't go to the sparsely populated areas as often.

People got used to me coming by and preaching. No doubt they relaxed more when they saw that I never asked to come inside their houses, didn't press them for a one-on-one conversation either. My preaching in public let them know I was a zealous Christian, a zealous religious person, and that made many of them fearful that in my zeal I wanted to storm into their houses, cram religion down their throats, have them repeat a prayer, make a decision and such.

And when it soon became apparent that I would not try to force religion onto them, no doubt many of them relaxed, and that also enabled me to relax somewhat. Sometimes when shopping in town, someone would say, you haven't been by the house preaching for a while, why not? They were not interested in the preaching, just making conversation. Once chatting with a woman in a grocery store, she talked about her house and neighborhood.

I knew her face but didn't know exactly where she lived. So I asked her and she said, you know where I live, you preach right in front of my house. She replied, well lady, you just described half the houses in town, praise God.

So a lot of them to some degree came to accept me as a permanent fixture preaching right outside their houses. Neither was I quiet, glory to God for that.