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SOS Monthly Newsletter - May 2004TRUE DISCIPLESHIPDear Christian friends, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” Luke 9:51. As he traveled with his disciples, three men offered to follow him. Jesus told the first man that “the son of Man has no place to lay his head.” A second man asked him to first let him bury his father. Jesus responded, “Let the dead bury the dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” A third man said “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” Jesus told him “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Was Jesus being unreasonable in His demands? He knew the hearts of these three men. He may have known that the first man wouldn’t sacrifice his comfort and security, that the second man’s father wasn’t dead, and that the third man’s family would persuade him not to follow Jesus. We are a lot like these three men. We all have excuses for not obeying Jesus’ command to follow Him and proclaim the kingdom of God. Some of our excuses sound very convincing. “Let me first bury my father.” “Let me first say good-by to my family.” We are busy with a multitude of legitimate activities—work, school, family, recreation, etc. One day we’ll start obeying our Lord’s command to take the Gospel to the lost. However, right now we’re busy with other things. Jesus told us that the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. Thousands of people enter eternity every day without knowing Jesus Christ. We know the One Who can save these people from eternal Hell, but we are too busy to tell them about Him. We all have 24 hours each day. We find time for the things that are important to us. Certainly, rescuing lost souls from Hell is important enough to deserve some of our time! The Greatest Need The greatest need for every person on this earth is to receive salvation from Jesus Christ. The greatest thing any one of us can do is to present the gospel to someone and give him or her a chance to be saved. Almost every day, we have opportunities to witness to people. We encounter people at work, at school, on the bus or airplane, on the street, at the grocery store, in our neighborhood, etc. We all need to take better advantage of these opportunities and be bolder in our Christian witness. However, there are many people who do not have any Christian friends or co-workers to witness to them. They will not be reached for Jesus unless someone makes a special effort to reach them. This is why we need special evangelistic outreaches. One of the main reasons we do not witness in our everyday lives is that our minds are focused on other things. During an outreach like SOS-San Francisco, we can focus on one thing -- reaching people with the gospel. Another reason we do not witness is because we fear rejection by friends or co-workers. SOS-San Francisco provides an opportunity to overcome fear and witness boldly for Jesus, with the encouragement of other Christians. A third reason we don't witness is that we don't know how. SOS-San Francisco provides an opportunity to get practical training and experience in personal witnessing. An "SOS" is an urgent call for help. The people of San Francisco are in great spiritual need. They may not be starving physically, but they are starving spiritually and are headed for eternal torment if they do not trust in Jesus. We have the spiritual food, the Word of God, that can save them from a fate worse than death. How can we withhold God's Word from those who desperately need it? Many Christians at one time had a zeal for God and a burden for souls. But today they are caught up in worldly activities and have lost that zeal. I believe that God wants to use this summer's SOS outreach to restore this fervor in many of His people. Jesus is coming soon! Let's get our hearts right with God and get busy doing the work He has commanded us to do: investing our lives winning souls for His Kingdom. Don’t miss this year’s SOS outreach. We have enclosed a registration form with this newsletter. This year we will again be meeting at Temple Baptist Church, 3355 19th Ave. (near Ocean), San Francisco. Contemporary Christian music pioneer Chuck Girard and veteran evangelist Scott Crawford will be ministering throughout the week. Registration begins on Friday June 18 at 6 PM. Meetings are scheduled daily except Sunday at 8 AM from June 19-26. If you live in the Bay Area and must work, you may join us at night and on weekends. 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. Free housing is available during the outreach. (Bring a sleeping bag and foam pad.) We will be serving breakfast and lunch from June 22-26. Youth under 18 need adult supervision. This outreach is an opportunity to bring the love of Jesus Christ to people who desperately need to know Him. It is truly a life-changing experience. We have printed 10,000 full-color cards to let people know about this outreach. Please help us get this literature to churches, Christian bookstores and Christian schools in your area. You can give it out at Christian concerts and other events. Please encourage your Christian friends to get involved. We also have a new professional-quality SOS video/DVD to show in churches. Set aside the week of June 18-26 to attend the SOS outreach and bring a friend. Please call or e-mail us if you have any questions. The Passion We received a letter from some friends who are missionaries in Qatar, a Muslim nation. They have been able to take several people to the movie, The Passion of the Christ. Afterwards, these people were quite receptive to the gospel. Normally, in Qatar, a film is banned simply because an actor wears a cross around his neck. Movies about Jesus are normally not allowed in Muslim nations. Muslim law forbids images of prophets, and Muslims consider Jesus to be a prophet. However, The Passion is being released uncensored in almost every Muslim nation except Kuwait. The film is drawing huge crowds in many of these nations. Yasser Arafat saw the movie and called it “moving and historical.” However, no distributor in Israel has tried to market the film. Muslim nations welcome the movie because they think it is anti-Semitic. Nonetheless, God is using The Passion to expose millions of Muslims to the gospel for the first time. On the StreetsIn February and March, we witnessed several times outside the Sony Metreon, an entertainment complex which was showing “The Passion.” On Saturdays, we again ministered at Fisherman’s Wharf. For the first time, we brought full bands to play in this area. Dave Angeles was with a band, Gideon’s Army, that worked with us over 20 years ago. In March, his band Sonhouse played at the Wharf. The week before, a youth worship band in which his son plays (Peculiar) ministered with us. Most people in this area seemed to enjoy the music. We gave out many tracts and spoke with quite a few people each day. We spoke to one Muslim woman and her four children. Her husband had recently left her, and she didn’t know how she would survive. She was quite open to the gospel, and expressed interest in attending church with us.
Coming EventsNote: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325 or 541-9903 (cell phone) to confirm outreaches or for more information. Friday May 7, 14, 21, June 4 7:30-10 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods. (Call for location). Sat. May 8 Whole Earth Festival outreach, Davis, CA. (Call 916-348-6997 for details.) Sat. May 15 12:30-4:30 PM Berkeley Outreach. Telegraph and Haste St. Sat. May 22, June 5 12-5 PM San Francisco Outreach. (Call for location). Ministry News and NeedsOnce again, I want to thank each of you who is praying for us and supporting us financially. Our two greatest needs, as always, are for prayer warriors and workers in the harvest field. I am blessed when some of you tell me you pray for us daily or weekly. We often see answers to prayers when God protects us from the police or from angry people who hate God. We especially need your prayers during SOS week. Pray that we will get our permits and have no problems with the police. Pray that God will anoint and direct every aspect of the outreach and will use it to bring many into His kingdom. Pray that God will bring many laborers to help us during SOS week. You may become an answer to this prayer. Our Tape of the Month is Ministering in the Opposite Spirit by Loren Cunningham. Loren is founder of Youth With A Mission, a worldwide ministry with 12,000 staff in 135 nations. This message was given 24 years ago at our 2nd SOS-San Francisco outreach. Also, don’t forget to order a copy of our new SOS video/DVD. Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum |
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