Welcome to Heaven
Dear Christian friends,
Christmas is a time of giving. We give gifts to one another, but more important, we remember God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Many of our Lord’s teachings were about giving. One of His most difficult parables, found in Luke 16, is known as the “Parable of the Unjust Steward.” This parable is sandwiched between two other stories about waste and riches: “the prodigal [wasteful] son” and “the rich man and Lazarus.” The steward was accused of wasting his master’s wealth and would soon be unemployed. He couldn’t dig and didn’t want to beg, so he decided to go to each of his lord’s debtors and reduce their debt. They would be so grateful to him that they would gladly take care of him when he was unemployed.
His lord commended him for his wisdom, “for the children of the world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Jesus added, “make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that, when you fail [or it fails], they may receive you into everlasting habitations….If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? …. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
The “unjust steward” was wise in that, knowing his job would soon end, he planned for the future. Many of the “children of the world” save a lot of money for their retirement, which is the only “afterlife” they believe in. But the “children of light” often store up very few treasures in Heaven. We are to be “wise as serpents.” The people of this world act in their own best interest to prepare for their future (at least on this earth). But we Christians often fail to act in our own best interest by preparing for our eternal future.
Jesus said that we should use the “mammon of unrighteousness” [money or wealth] to make friends so that, when we die [or the money runs out], they [our friends] will welcome us into everlasting habitations [Heaven]. The New Testament does not teach that “10% of our money belongs to God and the rest belongs to us to use for selfish purposes.” It teaches we are a steward of all that we have. We should use as much as possible for things that matter in eternity.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us to lay up treasures in Heaven. Here, He tells us to use our money to make friends who will welcome us into Heaven. How do we do this? We can use our wealth to support full-time evangelists. We can go on mission trips. We can purchase gospel tracts. We can give away food and clothing to the poor, and share the gospel with them. We can reduce our work hours so we will have more time to preach the gospel. We can cut our expenses and use the extra money to further the gospel. In this parable, Jesus teaches us that those who are won to Christ through our giving will welcome us into Heaven. Those Christians we help in time of need will also welcome us into Heaven.
We all know about earthly treasures and the pleasure they sometimes give us. But what good are heavenly treasures? We have no personal experience to guide us, so we must trust Jesus. He says storing up treasures in Heaven will benefit us eternally.
Jesus taught that there will be degrees of punishment in Hell (Luke 12:47-48). The concept of “heavenly treasures” suggests that there are also degrees of joy in Heaven. Having many people in Heaven who are grateful to us for the help we gave them on earth will somehow increase our eternal joy. These heavenly treasures are infinitely more to be desired than earthly treasures because they produce eternal joy, not temporary pleasure.
Daniel wrote “they that turn many to righteousness [shall shine] as the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). Peter wrote about an entrance being “ministered unto you abundantly” into Heaven (2 Peter 1:11). Many Christians will enter into Heaven with few or no rewards. Some will enter abundantly, with many eternal rewards.
Finally, Paul wrote that “those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel” [receive financial support] (1 Corin. 9). Then he [and I] must add: “I [haven’t] written these things, that it should be so done unto me.” There are ministries and churches that misuse God’s money and do not deserve our support. But there are also many excellent ministries that are doing much to spread the gospel.
God has made us stewards over the wealth He has entrusted us with. We need to be prayerful and wise in our giving. “If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”
Ministry News & Needs
I love to read books and listen to teaching on evangelism. But there is really only one way to learn how to witness — through practical, on-the-job training. Jesus trained His disciples by living with them for 3 1/2 years. Since 1979, SOS Ministries has operated a staff evangelism house. Most street ministries last at most a few years. One of the main reasons SOS Ministries has been able to continue for 17 years is that we have a core of workers who live together and encourage one another to “fight the good fight.”
I know of no better way to get training in evangelism than by living in our SOS house. We are looking for 3 or 4 men, women, or couples who are willing to dedicate a year of their lives to evangelism training and reaching the lost. We are looking for Christians who have walked with Jesus at least one year. This newsletter goes out to almost 1000 people. Surely there must be 3 or 4 of you who fit this description. Please pray that God will speak to those whom He is calling to join us. Please call or write me if you are interested, or know someone who is. This is a great opportunity to store up heavenly treasures and make many friends who will welcome you into Heaven.
Despite the difficulties we have had getting permits, we were able to get permits at 7th St. and Market on September 28, October 12, and October 26. Each day, we held a six-hour outreach. This area largely consists of street people. We gave out over 100 packages of sweet rolls each day. Several music groups ministered each afternoon and many people stood around, listening to the gospel message. On October 12, ten people prayed with us in response to an altar call.
A man named Burton Wolfe has an office near 7th St. and Market and wrote us a letter on October 16 threatening to sue us and have us arrested if we returned to that location. He also wrote Captain Martell at the Police Department, saying that we are “borderline psychotics” who “scream and shout lunacies” and that “the literature they hand out is truly bizarre and not within any known guidelines of true Christianity.”
On October 26, we returned to that location. At 12:30 PM, Off. Gallagher was outside Mr. Wolfe’s office. He said our sound level was fine and that we would have no problem if we kept it at the same level the rest of the day. I used a decibel meter to make sure the volume stayed at the same level. Nonetheless, Off. Gallagher returned at 2:30 PM and cited Eric Livingston for “disturbing the peace.” Fortunately, he did not shut us down and we continued ministering until 6 PM.
Please pray for wisdom for our lawyer Russell Davis and us as we proceed with our lawsuit against the city of San Francisco. Pray that Judge Charles Legge would grant our request for an injunction so we can get permits freely and not be arrested for preaching the gospel. We expect him to make a decision by February.
When the Women’s Aglow group witnessed with us in August, they told me about a new church in the Tenderloin (skid row) area, just two blocks from our 7th and Market location. Two years ago, a team of Christians from the Church of God came here from the East Coast. They started a church called Providence Christian Center and a discipleship home for men. The church now has about 200 street people attending on Sunday morning! This is the largest church for street people I have ever seen in San Francisco.
Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. This is a very stressful time for us, and we really need your prayers. We give out thousands of tracts each week. Currently we are printing another 160,000 tracts. We need about $1500 to pay for these tracts. We need an artist to help us make some new signs. We still have several openings for Christians to live in our evangelism house. Also, we still need more workers to help us on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.
God has been answering our prayers for more laborers. Several Christians have begun witnessing with us on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. God has also begun to answer our prayers for a sound system. A Christian brother has donated a small sound board and two speakers. We still need some additional equipment to put together a small sound system.
Please pray for those who have written or called us this past month in response to tracts: Paula, Tommy, Andrew (SF), Jason and Kahlif (Hayward), Sandra (Concord), Lucinda (age 14, Sebastopol), and J.C. (San Quentin prison). Please pray for those who respond ed to the gospel on September 28: Robert, Jimmie, Patricia, Carl (SF) and Shawn (San Rafael). Shawn is a teenage boy who walked up to Eric and asked him how he could go to heaven. Eric witnessed to him and prayed with him to receive Christ. Please pray for Adam, Matt, and Chris, three teenagers I witnessed to on Haight St.
This month we are offering a special book: Going Fishing: Journeys to the Inner Cities by Ira Nissen. Ira is a retired professor from the University of Las Vegas. In this book, Ira shares many of his experiences at SOS-San Francisco outreaches from 1983-1990 as well as at SOS-Hollywood. It is filled with interesting stories of how God led Ira and others in divine encounters, ministering to lost people at these outreaches. Our Tape of the Month is Spiritual Authority by Dean Sherman. Dean has a world-wide teaching ministry and has ministered at SOS-San Fran cisco.
I hope you have a wo wonderful Christmas and New Year. I hope many of you will join us for our Christmas outreach on Sat. December 21. Often, we get so busy with frantic Christmas shopping that we forget the true meaning of the holiday. Why not offer someone the best gift there is this Christmas–the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ?
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
