Without Excuse
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
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. The passage in 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
motivation—Woe unto me if I preach not 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 having people
throw stones at you and being thrown into jail.
Again, some will argue that these scriptures only applied to the
apostles or to those specifically called as evangelists or mis
sionaries. Certainly there are different callings in people’s
lives. But do you think that God has placed this great responsi
bility on Paul, where the blood of others would be on his hands
if he disobeyed, yet He has given you no responsibility whatsoev
er to the lost?
Why do you think God did not take you to heaven as soon as you were
saved? Why must we endure all those trials and tribulations? Yes,
God is purifying us so we will be more like Jesus but His 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 only 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. If we are not doing these
things, we are wasting our lives.
I realize that these are strong words. Some have probably stopped
reading this newsletter and are angry at me. Some are still looking
for loopholes. “My ministry is to the church, not to the lost.” No–God
has called you to minister to both. “You’re trying to put me into
legalistic bondage in which I’ll feel guilty whenever someone passes
me by and I don’t witness to him.” Obviously, we can’t witness to
every single person we come into contact with. But we sin both
when we fail to witness to someone God tells us to talk to and
when we fail to give evangelism the priority in our lives God wants
it to have. When we confess our sins of omission in regard to evangelism,
God will forgive us — but we need to change our ways. 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.
SOS-San Francisco
August 13-21
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 sum
mer’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.
We have printed 3000 posters and 30,000 bulletin inserts to let
people know about SOS-San Francisco. Please help us get this
literature to churches, Christian bookstores, and Bible schools in your area. Also, you can give them out at Christian concerts
and other events. A response sheet has been enclosed to order
literature. Also, talk with your pastor, youth pastor, and Chris
tian friends and encourage them to get involved. Set aside the
week of August 13-21 to attend the SOS outreach and bring a
friend.
We especially encourage those of you who have attended SOS out
reaches over the past 20 years to come this year. This summer’s
outreach will be a reunion of those who have labored together in
this harvest field over the years.
Several teams are planning to join us this summer–from Canada,
Texas, San Diego, Salinas and other places. Still, as Jesus said,
“the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” We urge YOU
to join us for the outreach–for a day, a weekend, or for the
whole week. We are planning a special Christian art fair at
Washington Square on August 14. Also, we are planning a special
neighborhood and children’s outreach at Glad Tidings on August
We have enclosed a registration form with this newsletter. Free
housing is available at Glad Tidings Church. Bring a sleeping bag
and foam pad. If you prefer, we can send you hotel information.
We will be serving breakfast and lunch starting Monday August 16.
If you live in the Bay Area and must work, you may join us at
night and on weekends. Please call, write, or e-mail us if you
have any questions. See the bulletin insert enclosed with this
newsletter for more outreach details.
Coming Events
Note: All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325 the
day before to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday July 9, July 16, July 23 7:15 PM. Witnessing in various
S.F. neighborhoods. (Call us meeting location and directions.)
Sat. July 10 and July 24 San Francisco Outreach. 12-1:30 PM
Powell and Market. 2:30-4:30 PM Union Square (Powell & Geary St.)
Sat. July 17 Berkeley Outreach 1:30-5:30 PM Telegraph and Haste
May 1-October 17 Mario Murillo Ministries San Francisco Outreach
(925) 820-5470.
August 13-21 SOS-San Francisco. Set aside this week to join us
for our 20th annual outreach to the people of San Francisco.
Ministry News and Needs
This past month, I received a call from Nancy. Ten years ago, we
often witnessed to Nancy in Berkeley. At the time, she was taking
male hormones and wanted to become a man. However, she was saved
in 1993 and has been attending an Oakland church. She now accepts
herself as a woman and has stopped taking the hormones. She
regularly gives out gospel tracts in Oakland. I also got a call
from Frank. Frank lives in San Francisco and was backslidden. He
received one of our tracts during this year’s March for Jesus and
rededicated his life to Christ.
Please pray for Nancy, Frank and others who have contacted us
this past month, including Salvatore and Ming (SF), Marc (Sunny
vale), Delia (San Leandro), Rob (Texas), James (Dublin, CA pris
on), and Richard (TN prison).
Again, we thank you for your prayers and financial support for
this ministry. Please pray that God will bring a quick end to our legal struggles and give us victory so we can get loudspeaker
permits for 5 hours at Powell and Market and at other locations,
and can minister without fear of arrest.
This past month I learned that our permits at Powell and Market
are being reduced from 1 1/2 hours to 1 hour. We think it is
unreasonable to limit amplification at this location to one hour,
even on weekends. Please pray for us as we appeal this matter to
the Board of Permit Appeals. There are 5 members of this Board
and it takes 4 votes to win our appeal.
Pray for us as we plan our SOS-San Francisco outreach, that many
Christians and church groups would join us and that many will be
saved. We need a Christian artist to make some signs and banners
to use on the streets. We need one spiritually-mature Christian
with a calling in evangelism to live in our ministry house. Also,
we need many more Christians to join our outreaches on Friday
nights and Saturday afternoons.
Our Tape of the Month is “How to Turn Your Church into a Soul-
Winning Church” by Tommy Barnett. He is pastor of Phoenix’s First
Assembly of God, one of the largest and fastest-growing churches
in the U.S. This church has grown largely through the hundreds of
outreach ministries led by church members. Every fellowship of
believers should dedicate itself to reaching the lost people in
its community, and around the world.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
