Battle Log

Thursday, 6 September, 2018

Posted 7 September 2018, 1:10 AM by Matthew Andersen. Permalink

This afternoon in Sunnybank the team got a little rained on but thankfully nothing too severe. There did seem to be fewer people around than usual though as people were less interested in waiting for their bus in the wind and rain. But despite this the team had a range of lengthy and important conversations.

Two guys the team has spoken to before at different points in the afternoon dropped past. The first named Mitchell. He is having a really tough time with some things but has recently headed back to Church. Sadly he is still struggling to understand that we are saved by the work of Christ alone, not based on anything we can do.

He was reminded of the Gospel and its call to repent and believe and was encouraged to dwell on that truth and rely on Christ alone. He was also encouraged that God in His absolute sovereign authority doesn't leave us alone. Mitchell is having some troubles with his living situation and past friends and was wondering why God would let him suffer like he is.

It was explained, with compassion that God's plan for our lives may be harder than we desire but better than we had hoped. God's plan for His children is not for them to have a worry free life and rarely rely on Him. Rather He often places us in circumstances and situations in which our only hope is to cling to Him, teaching us that through it all, He is a only true hope! 

He was also encouraged with the wonderful promise of Romans 8:28-29, that God plans all things for the Christ-likeness of those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose!

Another conversation was with a JW, Darnell. He had spoken to another team member a week earlier but was having a real struggle understanding. The same this week. The reason wasn't because of his English ability. Rather, he had been sown seeds to falsehood and he had been mis-taught theological words. For instance, "Salvation is simply deliverance from danger or destruction, and often specifically referring to deliverance from sin".

This poor understanding of salvation cuts the heart out of the Gospel message. Equally a misunderstanding of who punish Jesus on the cross, God's judgement for sin and many other things were missing. It was a scary conversation with a man who is "very religious" and even reads the Bible but has little to no understanding of what it actually is!

A final conversation and one that was lengthy and encouraging was had with a woman named Beth. She at first when asked, "Where do you think you will go after you die, Heaven or Hell?" declared, "Definitely Hell". She said she was too bad, too sinful to be forgiven.

This is a relatively uncommon response to the Christian message so the team were interested to hear why. We engaged with her in discussion for almost an hour. Answer questions about Noah's Ark, The Tablets, Heaven, Hell and many other topics. 

At one point she declared that some Jehovah's Witnesses had been visiting her mother and saying there was no such thing as Hell. She then said, this doesn't make any sense and she thinks that they are wrong.

This was encouraging to hear and also good to know that she wasn't just looking for any false hope or false religion. With a lengthy conversation coming to a close, the team once again reiterated the simple beauty of the Gospel, the command it has upon our lives, to repent and believe and the offer of forgiveness it brings.

Beth left with a Bible, a tract, an encouragement that this conversation didn't happen for no reason and was encouraged to read her Bible.

Please be praying for Mitchell that he will come to understand the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice and trust in Him alone for salvation. Please pray that Darnell will see the glaring issues with JW teaching and doctrine and instead will seek to understand what the scriptures say. Please be praying that Beth will understand how deeply she has sinned but instead of wallowing in guilt will be able to rejoice with great joy that there is a God who loves to save the most despicable sinners.