Loving the Lost
Dear Christian friends,
Jesus said the First Commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. But Jesus said that there is a Second Commandment like unto it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Loving our neighbor means loving the unsaved as well as other Christians. This is the one thing that seems to get overlooked in almost every church. I do believe that our desire to witness to others should come out of our desire to please God. But when people talk about loving God and walking in holiness but have no apparent interest in reaching the lost, something is very wrong. Their Christian life has become distorted into self-centered religion.
Many people think that they can be a good Christian by having a devotional life, going to church, staying away from certain sins, and keeping their family together, without ever witnessing to anyone. They think witnessing is something that a few radical Christians might be called to do, but is of little or no concern to them. A person who truly loves God should have a burning desire to do everything they can to bring lost people to Jesus and save them from eternal hell.
I believe that God is calling many of you to participate in this year’s SOS outreach, but Satan is lying to you, giving you all kinds of excuses for not coming. Don’t listen to his lies. Please be praying fervently for this outreach, that God will strengthen those He is calling to resist the enemy’s attacks and get to the outreach, and that many people will enter God’s Kingdom during this year’s SOS outreach.
Once again we want to thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. Our expenses are always greatest at this time of year, as we prepare for SOS-San Francisco. Also, consider supporting a worker for SOS. Many Christians would like to participate in the SOS outreach but cannot afford the registration and meal costs. We want to help as many as possible to attend this outreach.
Our Tape of the Month is Sharing Our Faith by Danny Lehmann. Danny is an Director of the Honolulu base of Youth With a Mission and is involved in a weekly street outreach in Honolulu. He leads teams of Christians in outreaches to Asia and the South Pacific. In this message, Danny encourages Christians to witness, using humorous stories based on his personal experiences. I hope to see many of you at SOS-San Francisco, July 9-17. Please be praying fervently for this important outreach!
The 14th annual SOS-San Francisco outreach is just around the corner. Again I want to urge you not to miss this important outreach. Not only will San Francisco be changed–YOU WILL BE CHANGED! Come the whole week if you can. The fellowship of dedicated believers, the corporate times of worship and ministry, the opportunities to be used by God to bring others to Jesus, and the joy of seeing sinners come to repentance–all are guaranteed to change your life, to stir you into renewed excitement for Jesus and His service.
San Francisco is often compared to Sodom but our prayer is that it will be more like Ninevah. Ninevah was an extremely wicked city, but when Jonah preached, the entire city repented. Jonah did not want to go to Ninevah, but God found a way to persuade him. I believe that God is calling many of you to labor in His harvest field in San Francisco but, like Jonah, some of you are resisting Him for various reasons. I hope that God will not need to take such drastic action to get us to obey Him!
If you can’t come the whole week, come for one day, a weekend, or one or more evenings. We have scheduled three special guests for this year’s outreach. Chuck Girard has been writing and singing Christian music for over twenty years. Today he travels around the world, ministering in the areas of worship, spiritual warfare, and evangelism.
Ray Comfort preaches regularly on the streets of Los Angeles and teaches evangelism to Christians around the world. He has written over twenty books, including Hell’s Best Kept Secret. His teaching on the use of the law to produce true conversions has had tremendous influence around the world. The teaching has been distributed widely through the ministries of David Wilkerson, Bill Gothard, and John Wimber.
Jerry Brandt has been mobilizing Christians to evangelize for many years. He recently ministered in the Philippines and is currently in Romania. We are really excited that these three Christian leaders will be with us. Even though they regularly minister to large gatherings of Christians, each of these men loves to witness to people on the streets.
Registration begins on Friday July 9 at 6 PM. Meetings are scheduled daily except Sunday at 9 AM and 6 PM (7 PM on Friday and Saturday) from July 10-17. We will meet at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 1098 Harrison St. near 7th St. in San Francisco. Evangelism training will be provided throughout the week. We will be holding daily noon worship rallies in city parks, bringing the church to the street.
On Saturday July 10 we will have a noon worship rally at the Golden Gate Park Bandshell. The outreach will conclude on Saturday July 17 with a noon rally at Washington Square Park (Columbus and Union St.) followed by a praise march through downtown San Francisco. Free housing is available during the outreach. Bring a sleeping bag and foam pad. If you prefer, we can send you names of hotels in the area. Don’t carry a lot of cash or valuables. We suggest getting travelers checks. We are planning to serve breakfast and lunch from July 12-17. If you aren’t able to mail in your registration form, come to SOS anyway. If you can’t afford the registration fee, we will pay for your registration and breakfast and lunches from July 12-17. (You will need to take care of any other expenses.)
The Whole Counsel of God
“Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” Acts 20:26-27.
Many of you are familiar with the illustration used in discipling new believers of a wheel with four spokes. This wheel represents four things necessary for Christian growth: reading the Bible, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and witnessing to others. Without one of these spokes, the wheel does not move smoothly and the Christian does not grow. Today, it seems that most Christians have lost one of these spokes.
Pastors rarely speak about the responsibility of Christians to share the gospel. If they do, some will accuse them of legalism. We don’t think it is legalism to set aside time each day to read the Bible and pray. We don’t think it is legalism to be in church on Sunday morning. But somehow, if we set aside a regular time for evangelistic outreach, we are accused of being legalistic.
We must discipline ourselves to do the things God wants us to do. We set aside times to pray and study the Bible. We set aside times for church activities. Otherwise these things get neglected. Why can’t we set aside time for evangelistic outreach? Sure, there will be unscheduled times when God will lead us to witness to people. We should take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel with people as we go through the day. But we should also schedule times for organized outreach. Every Christian should be able to spare at least four hours a month for some kind of outreach to the unsaved– whether it be street witnessing, going to prisons or nursing homes, child evangelism, door-to-door, or some other outreach.
Our churches need to be declaring the whole counsel of God, but many have avoided one crucial point. It is the responsibility of every Christian to witness to the lost, both in his everyday life and through special outreaches. This message needs to be preached loudly and clearly in our churches.
On the Streets
Last Saturday, over eighty Christians from Evangel Christian Fellowship in San Jose joined us for a “church on the street” rally at the Powell St. BART Station. This dedicated team had been praying for the outreach from 6-8 AM that morning. Before the worship team had even begun to minister, people were approaching us, asking for prayer. That day, the team prayed with at least 100 and possibly 200 people. The team also gave out food to hundreds of street people. Many were participating in a street outreach for the first time, but God used them mightily.
Jesus said, “I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16). Everyone who is involved in evangelism knows the frustration of praying with someone who seems sincere about wanting Jesus, only to see him fall away. It is a great encouragement to us when we see those who show real fruits of repentance.
Two months ago, a Christian brought a backslidden friend (John) to one of our rallies at Powell Street. God touched him and he rededicated his life to Christ. Two weeks later, John witnessed to a backslidden friend (Larry) who also rededicated his life to God. Both John and Larry have been helping with our outreaches and showing a true desire to follow Jesus.
Last week, I spoke with a friend who works at a Teen Challenge women’s home. She told me about two women who had been saved on the streets of San Francisco and had been in their program. One young woman hung out with the “punk rockers” at the Powell St. BART Station. Several Christians witnessed to her as she watched our rallies. She was saved over a year ago and is still walking strongly with the Lord. Another young woman used to hang out with her friends on Polk St. For years, Christians would witness to her and pray for her. She got saved a year ago, went to Teen Challenge, and is still on fire for d.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
