Obeying the Great Commission
Dear Christian friends,
Before our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, He left us with one Great Commission, to go into all the world, preaching the Gospel, making disciples of all nations. Two thousand years later, this task is largely unfinished. Every year, the percentage of people worldwide who have heard the gospel is decreasing. According to one study, 90% of all Christians in the United States never witness to anyone. Every year, we see more and more people in our country turn away from God. Yet how can we expect the unbelievers to take the Gospel seriously unless we show them that we take it seriously?
The dedication of the cults puts us to shame. Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s) have all the responsibilities of job and family that we have. Yet they witness an average of 4 hours a week. (At that rate it takes them 16 years to baptize one convert!) One day, I looked out my window and saw two JW mothers going door to door with their children in baby carriages. Why can’t Christians do that? One of the strongest arguments the JW’s use is that they are the ones who are out witnessing for Jehovah, not the Christians.
Every Mormon takes two years out of his life for full time missionary service around the world before settling down to raise a family. Why can’t we do this? If we did, we’d fulfill the Great Commission in no time. Instead, we come up with excuses for not evangelizing–It’s not my calling, I’m a silent witness, I’m too busy. We find fault with every method of witnessing and every evangelism ministry.
One of the main reasons we have a hard time witnessing is fear– fear of rejection by others. Nobody likes being rejected and when we preach the Gospel some people will be offended and reject us. Rather than admit this, we come up with other excuses for not witnessing. We need to overcome this fear, but we never will unless we are first convinced that we must witness for the Lord in order to be obedient to Him. We all love to claim the promises of God, but how many of us claim 2 Timothy 3:12, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”?
We all know that God has a plan for our lives, but many of us don’t realize that Satan also has a plan for our lives. The first part of his plan is to keep us from getting saved. Having failed in this, Satan’s second purpose is to keep us from witnessing to others. He does this through two means: 1. He makes us feel unworthy to witness because of our own sins. 2. He gives us a variety of excuses for not witnessing.
We must stop listening to the enemy’s lies and commit ourselves to obey the Great Commission of our Lord. I believe each of us should be witnessing for Christ in our everyday lives. But I believe each of us should also be involved in some kind of organized evangelistic activity on a regular basis–door-to-door, on the streets, at nursing homes, prisons, juvenile halls, etc. I pray when the Holy Spirit leads me, but I also discipline myself to set a regular time aside for prayer. I fellowship with other Christians when God brings me in contact with them, but I also set aside regular times for Christian fellowship. I witness whenever I am led by the Holy Spirit, but I also set aside regular times for witnessing.
I would challenge each of you to commit at least a few hours a month to some kind of organized evangelism outreach, in addition to whatever witnessing you do in your everyday life. Instead of looking for reasons for being excused from such outreaches, we should instead be dedicating ourselves anew to reaching this lost world by every possible means. I also encourage you to share this teaching with your pastor. I believe that the responsibility of each Christian to witness needs to be taught from every pulpit.
On the Streets
Often in street ministry, we will go through seasons in which we see little visible fruit from our labors. The past few months, however, we have met several people who have made professions of faith in Christ, and now are growing in the Lord. John was saved at Powell St. last Easter, attends New Life Christian Church, and has been walking consistently with the Lord for almost a year now. Last month, we shared about Theo, who had been with the Hare Krishnas and was witnessed to on Haight St. in October. Theo has witnessed with us the past two Friday nights. He is still living at the San Francisco Gospel Mission and continues to grow spiritually.
Two weeks ago on Broadway St., Steve Styles spoke with a navy man named Robert. As a child, Robert lived in a van with his mother for almost ten years. He had received Christ several years before but had been backslidden. He repented that night and has been at Shiloh Christian Fellowship in Oakland the past two Sundays. He is scheduled to leave on a ship next month for a six month tour. Of the 6000 people on the ship, he knows of only one true Christian and the atmosphere is very ungodly. Please pray for Robert, that he will find fellowship and stay close to the Lord while he is at sea.
Last November, Eric Livingston witnessed to Randy, a photographer who was going through a divorce. In January, Randy called Eric to say he had prayed to receive Christ. Eric ministered to him and referred him to the Community Assembly of God. Eric has also been ministering to a brother named Jerry, whom we spoke with at several outreaches. Jerry has been attending the Good News Church.
We had two worship rallies in January. New Life Christian Church led a rally on January 8. A worship group from Shiloh Christian Fellowship led a rally on January 22. Two women made professions of faith at that outreach. One of them, Monica, is a musician from Hollywood. She attended the Vineyard church that Sunday. The following Friday, we saw her while we were witnessing on Market Street. Please pray for these new believers, that they will continue to grow in Christ and get established in local churches. Please pray also for those who have responded to tracts this past month: Barry (Honolulu), Heidi (San Francisco), Christina (San Mateo), Vicky (South San Francisco), Eugene (San Bruno jail), and Karl (San Quentin prison).
Ministry Needs
Last month, I told you about our “Jesus Christ is Lord” banner being stolen. We were able to replace it with two new banners, which read “Open your heart to Jesus” and “Only one way to God: Jesus.” They are really nice banners. Also, we were able to get our computer fixed and upgraded, and to purchase a new computer for the ministry. Thank you for supplying the funds for these and other needs. The two banners cost $250 and the new computer and repairs cost $1000. I especially want to thank Alan Glick, who drove here with his wife and baby from Visalia (a four hour drive) and worked on the computers for eight hours!
This past month, Robin Woodruff finished work on a new bedroom in our house, so we now have room to take in one more man. We are looking for a Christian who is serious about serving Jesus and obeying the Great Commission.
Here are excerpts from a letter I received from Matt Higham, an 18 year old from Christian Bible Church in Healdsburg, CA:
“I attended the SOS outreach in San Francisco in 1992 and 1993. These had a great impact on my life, especially hearing Ray Comfort’s teaching on false conversion. Since that time, God has put a strong conviction within me to reach the lost. I have done some open air preaching here in Healdsburg and plan to do some during lunch at my High School….
“I always rejoice when hearing reports of those brought to Christ through your ministry, because you guys do it the way the apos tles did it. Let me tell you, your ministry has a greater effect than you see just in San Francisco. It has born fruit up north in Healdsburg too! It has convicted many believers to get out on the streets and make the gospel known to a lost and dying generation. Be encouraged! You are being prayed for.
“I have been a Christian for 4 years. In that time, God has made it plain to me that He has called me to minister the gospel full time. He has taken me through an explosive–and very difficult–period of purification and training throughout the past year or so, which has changed me into a completely new person. I now know what Paul meant when he called himself a “slave of Christ.” I find myself in misery if I do not seek Him with all my heart every day.
“I will be graduating from high school in a few months and am seeking the Lord in where He would have me go. I have a burning desire within me to preach the gospel to every creature, and feel the Lord leading me perhaps toward street evangelism. I have no desire for money…I just want to call the lost to repent! I’ll try to end a donation when I can, but I don’t get much money.”
This letter gives me renewed hope for the youth of America. Please keep praying for us, for the new believers mentioned in this letter, and for our upcoming outreaches. On Saturday March 26, a youth choir from Sunrise Baptist Church in Sacramento will minister at the Powell St. BART station (3-6 PM). On Saturday April 2 (the day before Easter), New Life Christian Church will minister at the BART station. And on April 30 and May 1, I am scheduled to teach at a San Diego Evangelism Conference and Outreach.
Our Tape of the Month is Organizing a City-wide Outreach. This is a teaching I did several years ago at an evangelism conference in Florida. Every city should have at least one outreach each year in which Christians can join together to reach the lost in their community. Perhaps God wants you to help organize an SOS-type outreach in your city.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
