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WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
Jesus Christ is the Gospel: His person and His work.
There are several purposes of His presence:
To reveal God to us: (Col 2:9)
To reconcile us to the Father: (2 Cor. 5:19).
To dwell with us in this life so we can know Him (John 17:3)
To teach us the ways of the Father: (John 7:15-18)
To show us the will of the Father: (John 6:38)
To send the Holy Spirit that reveals God to us (I Cor. 2:10-12)
To send the Holy Spirit that will raise us from the dead (2 Cor 4:13-15)
To provide every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)
To make me accepted in the beloved (Ephesians )
To adopt me into the family of God (Ephesians 1:5-7)
To provide redemption, forgiveness and a knowledge of His will (Ephesians 1:7-10)
To seal us with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14)
To provide the circumcision without hands (Colossians 2:11)
To purge our sins (Hebrews 1:3)
To intercede for those who are His (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25)
To speak to us in these last days (Hebrews 1:1-2)
To fulfill Moses prophecy (Deuteronomy 14:15)
As an evangelistic ministry SFOI emphasizes the salvation of sinners and that faith comes by hearing (Rom 10:17) and that some sow some water but God gives the increase (I Cor 3:6)
SFOI begins with man being dead in sin [Ephesians 2:1] and thus in need to be raised from the dead or born again [John 3:3-6] by the Second Adam the quickening spirit [1 Corinthians 15:45; Ephesians 2:5] raising the soul from the dead to new life [II Corinthians 3:6, 15:17-18; Romans 6:4]. Thus conversion from death to life occurs by faith in the Word of God [Romans 10:17; I Peter 1:23].
Thus the Gospel is:
The Good News of the Father sending His Son (Matthew 3:17,
17:15,
Mark 1:11) Jesus Christ (I John 4:2-3,
4:15,
5:1) into the world to save sinners (I John 3:5,
4:14) from His wrath so the sinner would by faith in the person and work of the Son receive forgiveness and covering of their sins in order to be reconciled to the Father (2 Cor 5:18-19) and have everlasting life with Him.
This wrath abides upon each individual sinner which at the sinners physical death will come upon them forever (John 3:36; Eph 2:3, 5:6; Col 3:6; I Thess 1:10, 2:15-16, ). Every soul is born into this world with a sin nature (Psalm 51:5) and is thereby alienated from God all of their life until or unless they repent of their unbelief and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and reconciliation with the Father.
Thus the Father, in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4), sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to accomplish salvation for repentant souls (Titus 3:4-7). Through all aspects of His life, death, resurrection and ascension Jesus accomplished all aspects necessary for repentant sinners salvation (Romans 3:2; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10). Therefore through faith alone (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11) in Jesus Christ alone (John 8:24; Hebrews 5:9, 7:28, 9:11-15, 9:24-26, 10:9-18; I John 4:9, 5:11-12; Titus 2:11-14) is a repentant sinful soul reconciled ( II Cor 5:18-19) to the living God.
Upon calling upon the Name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-10) for the forgiveness of their sins the soul is declared righteous (the just life by faith), receives the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) as an earnest deposit of their expressed faith, enters the Kingdom of God (Heb 12:22-24), lives a life of following Christ’s teaching (this is called sanctification Hebrews 2:11; Titus 2:14; I John 5:3) and when the sinner who is now called a Saint dies the Holy Spirit will raise them from the dead into the Father’s presence (this is called glorification).
The purpose of this great salvation, which is called eternal life, is that souls would come to know their creator, the true and living God and worship and enjoy Him forever.
Jesus sums this up in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
The Goal of SFOI
The goal is for lost souls at major sporting events to be reconciled to and know God (John 17:3).
The means of the goal is explained here:
Sports Fan Outreach Int’l’s goal is for fans attending major sporting events to hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 1:18; Romans 10:1-17) and be called to to repent and believe It.
The fan is presented with an opportunity to respond to the Gospel which includes asking the evangelist questions and being ministered to in the moment based on their respective place with the Lord.
Thus the SFOI evangelist both preaches the Gospel and ministers to the fans as they respond and hopefully is able to refer the fans to a Bible teaching church for discipleship. [Acts 2:38, 3:19, 5:31, 8:22, 17:30, 20:21, 26:20; 2 Cor. 7:10; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 3:19]
The fans hear the Gospel as they participate in pre-game events either at the respective venue or at a fanfest** perhaps located in the downtown area of the host city. In other words the fans are not inside the venue when they hear the Gospel.
The Gospel is communicated via preaching, distributing literature and individual conversations. All hearers are called to repent and believe the Gospel if they don’t and are edified and ministered to if they do believe It. All vision and mission statements, organizational and training efforts are designed to lead to fans hearing the Gospel at major sporting events.
The pictures you see on the Photo page
show the locale and interactions taking place.
**Fanfest is a word describing events hosted by the particular event or host city that are intended to attract fans whether they are attending the event or not. At the Super Bowl for instance they have the NFL Experience and two years ago in San Francisco the city hosted the Super Bowl City.
Expectations
1] Each day of an outreach begins with an hour of prayer followed by an hour or two of teaching then eight hours of ministry. This schedule is essentially the same whether the event is two days or two weeks. Eight hours of ministry is exhausting so you must be in physical shape to endure the long days involved with each outreach. This is eight hours of relentless evangelism in one location in a city or at an event. Breaks are only to grab a drink or snack.
2] SFOI operates in teams. Each Team has a designated Team Leader who’s responsibility is to get their Team to and from the ministry site; interact with the local authorities on behalf of the Team; provide guidance on all matters throughout the day and teach preaching, tracting and how to engage in a conversation to those on the Team who want training. The normal way ministry operates is that one member of the Team preaches while the other members distribute tracts and talk to people.
3] SFOI ministers in lively often raucous environments where tens of thousands of people are milling around talking, drinking and cheering. In general the environment is a free for all. Even if the ministry occurs in the downtown of a large metropolitan city the environment is noisy and chaotic.
In order for as many souls as possible to hear the Gospel in these environments open air preaching is the primary means used by SFOI team for souls to hear the Gospel. Tracts are also distributed and conversations held.
The pictures demonstrate the environment and response of some hearers of the Word proclaimed:
If you want to see more pictures you can visit this page: SFOI Photos.
4] SFOI’s central method of communicating the Gospel is open air preaching which brings the Kingdom of God to bear on the consciences of the hears of the Word both saved and unsaved. Open air preaching sets in motion all of the spiritual responses and conversations from souls passing by and establishes God’s authority in the area in which you are evangelizing.
5] Since man is made in God’s image he is able to discern and respond to the Gospel. Open air preaching initiates this response in mass and allows conversations and receipt of tracts to occur.