ISEMA Newsletters
Obeying The Great Commission
by Larry Rosenbaum
Before our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, He left us with one Great Commission, to go into all the world, preaching the Gospel, making disciples of all nations. Two thousand years later, this task is largely unfinished. Every year, the percentage of people worldwide who have heard the gospel is decreasing. According to one study, 90% of all Christians in the United States never witness to anyone. Every year, we see more and more people in our country turn away from God. Yet how can we expect the unbelievers to take the Gospel seriously when we don’t show them that we take it seriously?
The dedication of the cults puts us to shame. Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s) have all the responsibilities of job and family that we have. Yet they witness an average of 4 hours a week. (At that rate it takes them 16 years to baptize one convert!) One day, I looked out my window and saw two JW mothers going door to door with their children in baby carriages. Why can’t Christians do that? One of the strongest arguments the JW’s use is that they are the ones who are out witnessing for Jehovah, not the Christians.
Every Mormon takes two years out of his life for full time missionary service around the world before settling down to raise a family. Why can’t we do this? If we did, we’d fulfill the Great Commission in no time. Instead, we come up with excuses for not evangelizing–it’s not my calling, I’m a silent witness, I’m too busy. We find fault with every method of witnessing and every evangelism ministry.
One of the main reasons we have a hard time witnessing is fear– fear of rejection by others. Nobody likes being rejected and when we preach the Gospel some people will be offended and reject us. Rather than admit this, we come up with other excuses for not witnessing. We need to overcome this fear, but we never will unless we are first convinced that we must witness for the Lord in order to be obedient to Him. We all love to claim the promises of God, but how many of us claim 2 Timothy 3:12, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”?
We all know that God has a plan for our lives, but many of us don’t realize that Satan also has a plan for our lives. The first part of his plan is to keep us from getting saved. Having failed in this, Satan’s second purpose is to keep us from witnessing to others. He does this through two means: 1. He makes us feel unworthy to witness because of our own sins. 2. He gives us a variety of excuses for not witnessing.
It is time that we stop listening to the enemy’s lies and commit ourselves to obey the Great Commission of our Lord. I believe each of us should be witnessing for Christ in our everyday lives–at work, with our friends and family, etc. But I believe each of us should also be involved in some kind of organized evangelistic activity on a regular basis–door-to-door, on the streets, at nursing homes, prisons, juvenile halls, etc. I pray when the Holy Spirit leads me, but I also discipline myself to set a regular time aside for prayer. I fellowship with other Christians when God brings me in contact with them, but I also set aside regular times for Christian fellowship. I witness whenever I am led by the Holy Spirit, but I also set aside regular times for witnessing.
I would challenge each of you to commit at least a few hours a month to some kind of organized evangelism outreach, in addition to whatever witnessing you do in your everyday life. Instead of looking for reasons for being excused from such outreaches, we should instead be dedicating ourselves anew to reaching this lost world by every possible means. I also encourage you to share this teaching with your pastor. I believe that the responsibility of each Christian to witness needs to be taught from every pulpit.
Peace and Safety
World events are certainly moving at an amazing pace. The coup that took place in the Soviet Union threatened a return to repression of religious freedom. However, the coup failed, and the Soviet Union has been dissolved, being replaced by a Commonwealth of Independent States. We rejoice at the apparent end of Communism in that nation and the possibility of democracy and religious freedom.
Most people are now looking forward to a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity as the major enemy of the U.S. is moving towards democracy and capitalism. However, the Bible says that “When they shall say peace and safety; then sudden destruction will come upon them…and they shall not escape” 1 Thess. 5:3. The peace we are hoping for will certainly be short-lived.
Even now, hundreds of people are dying in Yugoslavia in a civil war between ethnic groups. Will the break-up of the U.S.S.R. into independent republics lead to war between the various ethnic groups? Who will have control over the nuclear weapons? The prospect of numerous republics with nuclear weapons and no food fighting over ethnic differences is pretty scary.
At the same time, the end of communism in the U.S.S.R. seems to remove a major obstacle to a “New World Order,” a secular society in which all nations unite, perhaps under U.N. rule, and ultimately the rule of a single dictator, the Antichrist. The return of our Lord is surely near. We must labor while it is day. The night is coming when no man can work.
Coming Events
Saturday February 15 Chinese New Year Parade Outreach, San Francisco. Up to 400,000 people attend this event. Meet at 3 PM at Powell St. BART Station. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (510) 531-5325.
February 27-March 3. Mardi Gras Outreach. New Orleans. Contact Christ in Action Box 100, Chatsworth, GA 30705, (404) 695-1868 or Rescue Atlanta (Mel Rolls, Director), Box 965039, Marietta, GA 30066, (404) 924-0201.
February 29 Mardi Gras Outreach. Galveston, TX. Contact Pastor John Elliott, Gulf Coast Christian Center, Box 143, Hitchcock, TX 77563, (409) 986-7889 or (713) 337-4364.
March 14-15 Spring Break Outreach, Port Arkansas, TX. Contact Rev. David O’Dell, 3400 W. Park Blvd. #2117, Plano, TX 75075, (214) 519-0195.
April 2-4 Spiritual Impact/Evangelism Conference, Houston, TX. 7th year. Bob Phillips, Ray Comfort, Ken Henderson, others. Contact Turning Point Ministries, Box 925308, Houston, TX 77292, (713) 621-1498.
June 11-14 Tampa, FL Outreach. Contact Pat Schatzline (813) 683-5726.
June 22-27 Rescue Atlanta Outreach. Contact Rescue Atlanta (address above).
June 26-July 4 SOS-San Francisco. This outreach will be held in conjunction with the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International Convention. Contact SOS Ministries (address above).
It’s Time To Renew Your ISEMA Membership!
“Two are better than one… and a threefold cord is not easily broken.” We urge you to become a member of ISEMA if you have not already done so, linking up with other evangelism ministries and Christians who believe in the Great Commission. If you are already an ISEMA member, now is the time to renew your membership for 1992. As an association of street and evangelism ministries, ISEMA depends on your active involvement.
Once again I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support for ISEMA. Please continue to send us information about what is happening in your community, teachings on evangelism, information about upcoming outreaches, etc. so we can share these with our readers.
Also, if you are involved in an evangelism ministry or know of one or more ministries that should be included in our next Street and Evangelism Directory, please send us information so we can update our next Directory. Include the name, address, phone number, director’s name and brief (50 words or less) description of what the ministry does.
Our Tape of the Month is “Street Ministry through the Local Church” by Mel Rolls. Mel is Director of Rescue Atlanta, an evangelism ministry to inner-city Atlanta. He also sends teams to do outreaches at major events around the country. Mel was formerly the youth pastor for a large Assembly of God church, so he can discuss this issue as both pastor and evangelist.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
