SOS Ministry Newsletter - April 2009

Some Final Thoughts on Preaching

Preaching is found throughout the Bible. Noah was called a preacher of righteousness. The Old Testament prophets loudly proclaimed God’s Word in public places, and were usually persecuted for it. John the Baptist was a preacher. He told people to “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2).

Jesus was also a street preacher. He began with basically the same message: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). His voice was loud enough that thousands of people could hear him. After His resurrection, he told His followers “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). He told them “you shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8).

Throughout the New Testament, His followers obeyed His commandment to preach the gospel throughout the world. They preached in public places, to Jews and Gentiles, to rulers and ordinary people. After Saul persecuted the Jerusalem church in Acts 8, “they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.”
Today, many professing Christians say that preaching is not appropriate for our age, especially any mention of Hell, repentance, or judgment. There is no Biblical basis for such a view. Certainly, we live in an age of “moral relativism.” Many non-Christians think that the Christian beliefs that Jesus is the only way to God, and that those who do not believe in Him will be punished in Hell, are intolerant, unacceptable views. Many professing Christians agree with them. It is tragic that so many people today consider themselves “evangelical Christians,” yet they reject the clear command of Jesus to go into all the world and preach the gospel of repentance and remission of sins.
   
Many modern evangelistic methods are attempts to “witness” for Jesus without offending anyone. Some avoid any mention of sin, repentance, or judgment and speak only of God’s love, forgiveness and healing. Was Jesus wrong when he said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”? Luke 13:5.
   
Some like to misquote St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” Jesus found it necessary to use words, as did Peter, Paul, and everyone else in the Bible (even Balaam’s donkey)! Do we think we are better than Jesus? Do we think that if Jesus and Paul had used our evangelism methods, they could have avoided persecution? Paul said, “All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). It is impossible to present the gospel in a Biblical way and avoid all persecution.

At the other extreme, there are Christians who are preaching in a way that seems designed to be as offensive as possible. They insult people with their crude, harsh, condemning language and rejoice when they are persecuted. However, they are actually bringing reproach to the gospel. Non-Christians watch them, and decide they never want to become Christians. Christians watch them, and decide they never want to become preachers.

I do believe that we need to understand the audience we are preaching to, and adapt our message to that audience. I could read Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon, “Sinners in the hand of an angry God” to a modern audience, but it would not have the same affect it did in his day. A lot of people today have a hard time with the concept of Hell, and think it is unjust for God to send “good” people there, simply for not believing in Jesus. I agree with Ray Comfort that, instead of repeatedly telling people they will go to Hell, we need to use the law to help awaken their consciences. People need to realize that they have sinned, that their sin is serious, and that God is just and must punish sin. If someone viciously murdered our child, we would want them to be punished severely. We would be angry if the judge simply let the murderer go free. In the same way, it is reasonable for a just God to punish law-breakers severely. Once they understand this, they can appreciate what God did for us in sending His Son to die in our place.

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Above is a sample from our SOS Administrator Larry DuBois. You can access SOS Street Evangelism Group from there.

During the past few months, we have updated our web site: www.sosmin.com. We also added a blog, a “youtube” site, and a “myspace” site. (You can locate all these sites by going to our web site.) But it was only when we started a site on “facebook” that we got a big response. In case you don’t know, Facebook is a social networking website with almost 200 million members world-wide, including perhaps a million Christians. Within three weeks, I had almost 1000 “friends.” I posted two notes that generated dozens of comments. So far, one Christian has joined us on the streets and $125 has been donated to the ministry through this site. Three people have expressed interest in our ministry house.

My goal is to add Christians, especially young people and those living in the Bay Area, as my “friends,” and to encourage them to witness for Jesus. Already, one person wrote that God had not called him to witness for Jesus, that he only needed to live a good life and others would be drawn to Christ through His example. Another person told me that God would annihilate the wicked, and not punish them in Hell. I asked him about Matthew 25:46. In this verse, the same Greek word is used for eternal life and eternal punishment. So far he has not responded.

It is sad to see the condition of the church. The idea that Christians ought to share their faith has become controversial. It is also sad that there is so little teaching on evangelism and encouragement to evangelize in our churches. As a result, many youth who were raised in evangelical churches do not have a biblical concept of evangelism, and see no need for it.

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Coming Events

Note: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325 or 926-3299 (new cell phone) to confirm outreaches or for more information.

Friday March 27, April 3, 10 Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods. 7:30 - 10 PM
Sat. March 28, April 4, 11 Evangelism Outreach. Berkeley (Telegraph and Haste St.) or San Francisco (Jefferson St. between Powell & Mason) Call Saturday morning for outreach location.

SOS - San Francisco July 17-25, 2009 — 30th Year Anniversary

We have set the dates for our SOS-San Francisco outreach: July 17-25. This is our 30th year to bring together Christians to proclaim the gospel in San Francisco and Berkeley. Please pray that God will bring many laborers, especially youth groups, to help us bring in an abundant harvest this summer. We hope that many Christians who have participated in SOS outreaches over the past 30 years will join us, in addition to those who have never been to SOS.

Ministry Needs

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. Like others, we have been affected by the financial recession. Our income for January and February has decreased by 37% over last year.

We have requested 14 permits from the SF Park Department. Please pray that we will get these permits and that the price for them will not increase. Last year, we spent about $2000 on permits.

We still have two openings in our Oakland ministry house. We are looking for men in their 20’s or 30’s who are spiritually strong and are committed to evangelism. We need to train younger believers in evangelism – to reach a new generation and help us continue this work of evangelizing San Francisco and Berkeley.

Please pray that God will bring the right people for our house. Please continue to pray that the Berkeley City Council will not take away our freedom to minister in that city. Our CD of the Month is: Preaching at the County Courthouse by Kirk Cameron. Kirk is an actor, known for his work on Growing Pains, the Left Behind movies, and the recent movie Fireproof. He also works with Ray Comfort, witnessing and preaching the gospel on the streets.
I hope many of you will join us for an outreach this next month.

Yours in His love,

Larry Rosenbaum