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SOS Ministry Newsletter - August 2008Preaching From the Book of Acts
For the past three months, we have been discussing evangelistic messages in the Acts of the Apostles. We will interrupt this series with an outreach report on SOS-San Francisco in next month’s newsletter. Acts 7 contains Stephen’s famous speech before the Jewish high priest and Sanhedrin. Stephen was one of the seven deacons appointed to minister to the poor saints. He was not an apostle, nor was he an evangelist. He was an administrator with the gift of helps. However, he did great miracles and preached the gospel in the synagogue of the Libertines with great wisdom. The Jews there could not refute his arguments, so they instructed false witnesses to accuse him of speaking blasphemies against Moses, the holy place and the law, and brought him before the Sanhedrin. Stephen used this opportunity to preach the gospel to the Jewish leaders. Reviewing Jewish history, he starts with Abraham. God called Abraham to leave his country and go to a new land by faith, enduring many difficulties. In the same way, God is calling the Jewish people to leave the familiar (the old covenant) and receive the new covenant by faith, entering into a better land with much tribulation. Next he speaks of the patriarchs and Joseph. “The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt.” The Jew who did his neighbor wrong asked Moses, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” The Jewish people later told Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. He quoted from Deut. 18 the prophesy of Moses concerning the Messiah, that God would raise up one like himself, a ruler and a deliverer, and that every person who would not listen to him would face His judgment. The Jewish people rejected Joseph by selling him into slavery, they rejected Moses as a ruler and judge, they rejected God by making a golden calf, and they rejected the Messiah prophesied by Moses. “He [Moses] supposed that they would have understood how God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not.” Stephen quotes Amos 5:25-27 to show how Israel turned away from God and worshipped false gods throughout their history, and brought judgment upon themselves. Next he turned to the issue of the holy place, the Temple. “Solomon built him a house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as said the prophet ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool of my feet; What kind of house will you build for me?’ says the Lord.” (He was quoting Isa. 66:1-2.) Moses, the law, and the Temple are not gods to be worshipped. Moses prophesied of the coming Messiah, who must be heard. The purpose of the law is to show us our sinful condition, and our need for a Savior. God does not dwell in a temple made with hands. He concludes by accusing them of resisting the Holy Spirit, persecuting all the prophets, killing the Messiah, and disobeying the law. “But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16). The result of Stephen’s message is that the listeners were “cut to the heart, and gnashed on him with their teeth.” They cried out, shut their ears, cast him out of the city and stoned him. Stephen, the first martyr, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on His right hand. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit….Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Like Jesus, he forgave those who killed him. Like Peter, Stephen relied heavily on Old Testament prophesy to seek to convince his Jewish listeners that Jesus is Messiah. Like Peter, he accused them of rejecting the Messiah. This time, however, we do not hear of people being saved from his preaching. Instead, there was a great persecution of the Jerusalem church that followed. However, the witnesses who stoned him laid down their clothes at Saul of Tarsus’ feet. Saul became a leader in the persecution that followed, but soon afterwards was dramatically saved and wrote over half the books in the New Testament. Moral Relativism at Dolores Park Dolores Park is a large, grassy park located halfway between Mission and Castro Streets. In 1994, we were denied permits in this park, due to complaints from the gay community. During the past few years, we have once again been granted four-hour permits in this park. We have held two outreaches there this year, and have one more scheduled on September 13. One problem with this park is the unpredictable weather. Our first outreach, on May 31, was on a cold, foggy day, and there were relatively few people in the park. Our second outreach, on June 21, was a warm, sunny day, and the park was filled with over 1000 people. On a sunny day, we can reach more people at this location than at any other city park. When we arrived at the park, we started putting up our signs. Immediately, a man began to take down our signs. Soon after our outreach began, he left and we put up the signs again. Last Days Harvest Church from Sacramento ministered that day. They played music for 1 ½ hours without any problem. Then I began preaching. Immediately, people started yelling at us, demanding to see our permit, and demanding that we turn down the sound. Later that afternoon, as Last Days was playing, a woman unplugged our sound board. As Pastor Tom turned around, he fell on the board and knocked it over. Fortunately, he was not hurt and the system was not seriously damaged. For the most part, the crowd seemed to enjoy the music, despite the clear Christian message it contained. I walked through the crowd, offering people gospel tracts. About half took them. I also had several good conversations with people, including a Jewess who was with a group of lesbians celebrating someone’s birthday. Last Days sang “Happy Birthday” to her over the PA. Dolores Park is a difficult place to minister, but it illustrates the challenge Christians face in bringing the gospel to the modern world. One view we commonly find, especially in young people, is “moral relativism.” In separate conversations that afternoon, two people told me that there are no moral absolutes. When I asked them whether Hitler was evil, they said they could not say. (Otherwise, they would have to admit to the existence of moral absolutes.) However, later in our conversation both told me that George Bush is evil! As a practical matter, we all have moral standards. Once we admit that we do have moral standards, we can examine the basis of our values. Unless there is a personal God who created the universe, there is no objective way to determine right and wrong. It is difficult witnessing to people with such perverted thinking, but here is a scripture that helps me: “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel. Instead, he must be kind to everyone. He must be a good teacher. He must be willing to suffer wrong. He must be gentle in correcting those who oppose the Good News. Maybe God will allow them to change the way they think and act and lead them to know the truth.” 2 Tim. 2:24-25. How did our nation get so far from God? One reason is the failure of Christians to obey the Great Commission. We like to think that everyone in the U.S. has heard the gospel, but in reality, many have only heard a very distorted “gospel.” Perhaps they have heard the “gospel” of legalism: “go to church and be a good person.” Perhaps they have heard the “gospel” of hypocrisy: “do as I say, not as I do.” In 38 years of witnessing, I have found that most Americans do not have a correct understanding of the gospel message. What is the most important thing a person can do on this earth? I could be a doctor who saves many lives. I could be a humanitarian who feeds many starving people. However, all the people I help will eventually die. However, if I preach the gospel to them and they are saved – they are changed for all eternity. Jesus gave us a clear command to go into all the world and preach the gospel. In Romans 10 we are asked “how shall they hear without a preacher?” Yet the vast majority of Christians rarely witness to anyone! We have disobeyed our Lord’s Great Commission, and the spiritual decline of our nation is, to a large extent, the fruit of our disobedience. ON THE STREETSClick on Photos to enlarge
Coming EventsNote: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325 or 541-9903 (cell phone) to confirm outreaches or for more information. Friday August 1, 8, 22 7:30 - 10 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods. Sat. August 2 Berkeley Evangelism Outreach. 12:30 PM – 4:30 PM Telegraph & Haste. Sat. August 9 San Francisco Evangelism Outreach. 12-5 PM UN Plaza (7th St. and Market) Sat. August 23 San Francisco Evangelism Outreach. 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Market St. & Embarcadero. 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM Union Square (Powell & Geary St.) Ministry News and NeedsTwo youth groups joined us the week before SOS-San Francisco. On July 4-5, a high school choir with 33 students from River Park Bible Church in Fresno ministered with us. They sang and witnessed on Friday night July 4 at Fisherman’s Wharf, where 100,000 people attended the fireworks celebration. We had a permit to set up a PA system at the best location on the Wharf and preached to about 10,000 people that night! On Saturday they ministered with us at UN Plaza. The following Tuesday, a group of 25 6th-8th grade students witnessed with us at UN Plaza. Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. Please pray for those who have written us recently in response to tracts, including Carina (New York), Ken (Ft. Quappelle, Sask.), Patrick (Oakland), Gene (age 10 Oakland), John (SF) and Shawn (Houtzdale PA prison). Please pray also for those we ministered to during SOS-San Francisco. We continue to preach the gospel throughout the year and need to print some more tracts. We expect the cost to be about $1500. We have one opening in our Oakland ministry house. We are looking for someone in their 20’s or 30’s who is spiritually strong and committed to evangelism. Our CD of the Month is Small Town Evangelism by Scott Crawford. We need to evangelize our towns as well as our cities. Yours in His love, Larry Rosenbaum
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