Overcoming Fear
Over the past 20 years, I have asked many Christians why they don’t witness. By far, the main reason they give is “fear.” What are we afraid of? Persecution may soon come to our nation and we should be willing to suffer and even die for our faith. But right now this is unlikely, at least in the U.S. Sometimes, Christians fear physical harm while witnessing on the streets. Again, this is very unlikely. Over the past 15 years, nobody involved in this ministry has ever been hurt in any significant way.
The real fear Christians face is fear of rejection. Whenever we witness–whether to friends, family members, people at work, or strangers–there is a possibility of rejection. No matter how tactfully we present the Gospel, some people will get angry at us and reject us because of our faith. “The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” John 15:20. Jesus was rejected by many people, including the religious leaders. Even His relatives thought He had lost His mind. Ultimately, of course, He was crucified.
It is especially hard to witness to people we have known a long time and never witnessed to before. We fear most being rejected by our friends, co-workers and relatives. While we want to see these people saved and often pray for them, we hesitate to witness to them because we don’t want to damage our friendships.
Witnessing to strangers is also difficult. Most of us were told as children not to talk to strangers. We often fear that a person will think us weird if we witness to them. Even though it doesn’t really matter what this stranger thinks of us, and even though our message is the most important message they’ll ever hear, we often are afraid to speak with them.
Like others, Christians tend to conform to the standards of those around them. If those in my church don’t do much witnessing, and witnessing is seldom talked about in my church, I may think that I don’t need to witness either. It is also hard to break long- standing habits. If I have been a Christian for many years and have never witnessed to anyone, it is hard to start. If no Christian leader has ever rebuked me for my failure to witness and my pastor does not preach that this is a sin, I may feel justified in not witnessing.
How do we overcome fear? We are all familiar with 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear; because fear has torment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.” It is our love for God and for others that enables us to overcome our fears. Because we love God, we want to please Him and keep His commandment to preach the Gospel. It is only natural to want to tell others about the person you love. We also love our friends and family members and want them to be saved. God can give us love even for those we do not know, and a desire that they be saved. If you saw a blind man about to walk off a cliff, you would try to stop him even though he was a stranger.
Often, a new believer will be excited about Jesus and eager to witness, while those who have been saved many years no longer witness and have developed elaborate excuses for not witnessing. We need to return to our first love, to the place where we are excited about our relationship with Jesus and want to let others know about Him. We need to repent of our sins, including the sin of not witnessing, and be renewed into a right relationship with God.
“For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord” 2 Tim. 1:7-8. Fear of witnessing certainly does not come from God. Satan does not want us to witness and our flesh does not want to receive rejection. We need to believe God’s word and trust that He will give us the power to boldly testify for Jesus Christ. “The fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe” Prov. 29:25. If we call upon God and believe His promises to be with us, we will not be afraid of what people think of us or what they might do to us.
One would think that Christians would pay great attention to the last words our Lord spoke before He ascended to Heaven. Instead, we pretty much ignore these words. “You shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me…unto the uttermost part of the earth” Acts 1:8. In Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, we often talk about the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, but rarely about its primary purpose: to empower us to witness for Jesus Christ. Peter had denied Christ three times, fearing a servant girl. Yet after Pentecost he was boldly preaching the Gospel before thousands of people, defying the Jewish leaders and going to jail for his faith.
In Acts 4, the early believers–commanded not to preach about Jesus and threatened with imprisonment–prayed for boldness. “And now, Lord, behold their threatening; and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak your word. By stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (v.29-31).
God has provided everything we need to overcome our fear of witnessing. He has given us His perfect love, which casts out fear. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit gives us supernatural power to witness for Him. And if we still are afraid, we can ask God for supernatural boldness to preach the Gospel.
Each day, pray that God will give you divine appointments. Be on the lookout for them, and start taking advantage of them. In addition, set aside special times for outreach–going to prisons or nursing homes, witnessing on the streets, witnessing door to door or some such activity. This establishes witnessing as a priority in your life and guarantees that you will witness consistently. As you overcome fear in these witnessing situations, you will find yourself getting bolder witnessing in your everyday life as well.
Start by setting aside a few hours each month for organized outreach. Just as you set aside time to read your Bible, pray and attend church, you need to set aside time to witness. Otherwise, it will get neglected as you get absorbed with other things. Just as we get physically flabby when we don’t exercise, we get spiritually flabby when we don’t exercise our “spiritual muscles” by witnessing regularly. As we resist the devil’s efforts to make us fearful of witnessing and submit to God’s commandment to preach the Gospel, the devil will flee from us in this and other areas of our lives (James 4:7-8).
Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” Matt. 18:16. The gates of hell are holding captive those who do not know Jesus Christ. God is calling us to smash down these gates and set free those who are captive. For too long we have believed the enemy’s lies and been living in fear. It is time that we believe God’s promises and carry out the task He has given us–to preach the Gospel in all the world.
Ministry News
On Sunday December 13, the New Life Christian Church led a worship rally at the Powell St. BART station. Pastor Dennis McNally, George Hipple, and Scott Crawford preached. Hundreds of Christmas shoppers stopped to listen to the anointed worship. We gave out fifty New Testaments and prayed with about 15 people for salvation and special needs. At least three of them attended a Christmas program at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship that night. I had two long conversations with Matt and Stan. Matt is in his 20’s, from Georgia, and staying in a shelter. He has a Christian background and is familiar with Bible prophesy, but wasn’t living for God. After speaking with him for about an hour, I drove him to the Vineyard for the evening service. Stan is a 52 year old Jewish man. He is very receptive to the Gospel but fearful of being rejected by other Jews if he believes in Jesus. Please pray for Matt and Stan.
On the following Sunday, the Russian Gospel Temple ministered at Powell St. Their men’s choir, mostly immigrants from Russia, ministered some Russian songs. Their youth worship group Ahsanna sang a Christmas cantata and some beautiful worship songs. A large crowd gathered to listen to the music.
On Friday night January 1, we went to Polk Street. We witnessed to many male prostitutes, some as young as 14. Most were prostituting to support a drug habit, usually cocaine or heroin. Before we left, we gathered for prayer. As we prayed, three Christians joined us from a new ministry in Newark called Teen Reach. They had just arrived on Polk St. to witness and stayed out until 3 AM. Then a 17 year old male prostitute we had spoken with earlier, Robert, joined us for prayer. Teen Reach had a rehab house and offered to take him with them. However, Robert was strung out on drugs and decided not to go. Please pray for him and for Teen Reach.
The next day we witnessed on Fisherman’s Wharf. We had recorded some messages by Billy Graham and were playing them through a walkman tape player connected to our amplifier. An Ethiopian refugee named Bakreet stood around listening to the message. Scott Robbins spoke with him, shared the gospel, and asked if he wanted to receive Christ. He immediately said yes, so Scott prayed with him. As Bakreet prayed, he began to cry profusely. He was homeless, so we referred him to the Victory Outreach men’s home. I gave him a New Testament and some literature, then of fered him some money, but he refused it. Please pray for Bakreet. Thousands of others received a gospel witness that afternoon. Pray that God will give increase to the seeds that were planted.
Ministry Needs
Three years ago, I wrote in this newsletter that we needed some one to help with office work. Barbara Evans read this and knew God was speaking to her. She has faithfully been coming to our house once or twice monthly since then, helping with our office work. Thank you, Barbara, for doing such a great job! Now, she has decided it is time to move on. So, once again we are in need of someone to help with office work. If you can type and would like to help, please contact me right away. Please pray that God will again bring the right person to help us.
By the time you get the newsletter, we will have the dates for next summer’s SOS-San Francisco outreach. They will be in next month’s letter, but if you need them to arrange your summer schedule, call us and we’ll give them to you. Our Tape of the Month is Street Drama by Dave Smith. For many years, Dave was director of Shepherd’s Theater, a Christian drama group in San Francisco. This tape will help you learn more about this method of evangelism and how to start a drama team.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
