December 2011
No Excuse
1. Loi and May give out food to homeless at People’s Park, Berkeley.
Dear Christian friends,
In order for an unsaved person to come to Christ, he or she must be absolutely convinced that he is a lost sinner, and that there is no way he can save himself by his own works or by any other means. As long as he thinks he has found a loophole — that somehow God will accept him without the need for faith in Christ, he will invariably take advantage of that loophole. The unbeliever will comfort himself with the thought that most of the people he knows don’t believe in Christ and that all these people couldn’t be wrong. As we know, this is a dangerous deception.
In a similar manner, in order for a Christian to commit himself to evangelism, he or she must come to the realization that God has commanded him to do so. If he can convince himself that God has made an exception for him, that he is excused from obeying the Great Commission, he will invariably take advantage of this loophole. Unfortunately, the vast majority of evangelical Christianity has allowed itself to be deceived into thinking that a Christian who never witnesses for our Lord can be right with God. Such a Christian comforts himself with the thought that most other Christians don’t witness, so it must be OK.
Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32). Before He ascended into heaven, He gave us the commandment to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The apostle Paul understood the necessity to preach the gospel. “When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me” (1 Corin. 9:16-17). He told the Ephesian elders, “I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (Acts 20:26). In making this statement, he referred to God’s words to Ezekiel and considered them applicable to us in New Testament times: “When I say to a wicked man, `You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself” (Ezekiel 3:18-19).
I’d encourage you to read the whole third chapter of Ezekiel. Some will argue that this passage only applied to Ezekiel, but Acts 20:26 is a clear reference to it, and shows that Paul thought the passage referred to him. 1 Corin. 9 confirms that Paul considered that some adverse consequence would fall on him if he refused to preach the gospel.
It may come as a shock to us that the great apostle Paul was motivated by the fear of having the blood of unsaved people on his hands in preaching the gospel. Surely he would have been motivated rather by his great love for God, by the great joy he had in his salvation that he couldn’t keep to himself, and by his love for the lost. I’m sure he was motivated by all these things, but sometimes he needed this additional motivation—“Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” Witnessing for Jesus isn’t always pleasant or convenient. Even Paul at times would have avoided witnessing if he thought he could have gotten away with it and still be right with God. After all, it wasn’t fun being beaten and thrown into jail.
Again, some will argue that these scriptures only applied to the apostles or to those specifically called as evangelists or missionaries. Certainly, different people have different callings. But do you think that God has placed this great responsibility on Paul, where the blood of others would be on his hands if he disobeyed, yet He has given other Christians no responsibility whatsoever to the lost?
Why do you think God did not take us to heaven as soon as we were saved? Why must we endure all those trials and tribulations? Yes, God is purifying us so we will be more like Jesus. But one important purpose in bringing about these changes is for us to become better witnesses for our Lord. When I am in heaven I will be totally like Jesus and will have perfect fellowship with Him, but it will be too late to help anyone else. Again Paul wrote, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Phil. 1:23). The main reason we stay on this earth is for the sake of others — to help other believers mature in Christ and bring salvation to the lost.
Thinking about the blood of others being on our hands may seem crude, but Paul needed it to motivate him and we need it to motivate us as well. Once we stop looking for loopholes and making excuses for our failure to witness, we will find a way to witness for Christ as a central part of our lives. If we need training, we will get it. If we are fearful, we will overcome the fear. If we are busy, we will find time to witness just like we find time to go to church, read our Bible, and pray. Getting past the excuses is the hard part. The rest is easy.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Christmas is an excellent time to witness for Jesus. Often, people are more receptive to the gospel at this time. Thousands of people are on the streets doing their Christmas shopping. We need to remind them of the true reason for the season. Come join one of our Christmas outreaches at UN Plaza, 7th St. and Market, SF on Sat. Dec. 10 and 17, 12-5 PM.
On the Streets
Throughout the winter, often the weather report is uncertain as to whether it will rain on our outreaches. Even if we check the weather forecast right before we leave, including the radar, the forecast is often wrong. Normally, when rain is considered likely, we witness in Berkeley on Saturday afternoons. However, the local street vendors in Berkeley can get angry if we witness there too many weeks in a row.
So we try to alternate with Fisherman’s Wharf outreaches when possible. Getting Fisherman’s Wharf permits involves attending a meeting in San Francisco that can last six hours. Dave St. Marie made a special trip there to get November permits, but only was able to get one permit, for November 5. So I decided to use it, despite a forecast of 40% chance of rain.
As we arrived at the Wharf, our van started spilling out water. Tim Moon, who was ministering that day, called a mechanic friend who came from San Jose to look at our van. The water pump was broken, and we could not fix it immediately so we needed to tow it home. So we called towing places. We started with quotes of $250, but found a place that would tow our van to Oakland for $140.
Fortunately, the pump didn’t break until we got to the outreach, so we were able to hold our outreach. No damage was done to the engine. And it didn’t start raining until our outreach ended that afternoon. Several Christians joined us that afternoon. The weather was good, and thousands of people heard the gospel that day.
The night before, we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf. Dave witnessed to Rodney and Gabriella, who were quite receptive to the gospel. We also prayed for Steve, who is unsaved and headed for Afghanistan.
On November 12, we witnessed in Berkeley. James Croci played music and I preached. Loi and May brought food and gospel tracts to give to the homeless in People’s Park. Amanda, Dena and two School of Urban Missions students helped them.
Coming Events
Note: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 282-5629 (cell phone) to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday Dec. 2, 9, and 16 7:30 – 10 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Sat. December 3 12:30– 4:30 PM Berkeley Outreach (Telegraph and Haste St)
Sat. December 10 and 17 12-5 PM San Francisco Outreach (UN Plaza, 7th St. and Market) (In case of rain: Powell & O’Farrell St., SF)
Ministry News and Needs
Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. The van repairs, including some preventative maintenance, cost $1000.
During the past month, we were blessed to have Scott Crawford and Larry DuBois with us. Both of them did a lot of evangelism while they were here. Larry D. witnessed to a young man named Chris and invited him to church at Calvary Road. He showed up on Sunday and Pastor Eric ministered to him. He also ministered to Robert, who is on methadone. He also got to preach to a group of protesters during a visit by Pres. Obama. On Halloween, Dan Losak joined Larry D., Seth and Walter witnessing in Livermore.
We only have three men in our evangelism house. Please pray that God would provide some more Christians to help us reach the people of San Francisco and Berkeley. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I do hope you will consider joining one of our Christmas outreaches, if you live in this area. If not, I hope you will witness in your own community.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
2. Larry watches as ministry van is towed to our house.
3. Dave (r)witnesses to Rodney and Gabriella at Wharf.
4. Dena witnesses to man in Berkeley.