Newsletter July 1999

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