Battle Log

Wednesday, 17 April, 2019

Posted 24 April 2019, 8:46 AM by Matthew Andersen. Permalink

On Wednesday in Brisbane City, in the lead up to Easter, there was a good sized team out, reminding people of the weekend that was coming and explaining why it is so central and crucially important for every person on the face of this planet.

The day had some exciting responses to the gospel but predominant theme was actually rebellion. Not just that people didn't want to talk or hear. But five people, came to understand the gospel and chose to defiantly reject Christ and His offer of forgiveness. In the theme of Easter, people were being incredulous. It wasn't that there was a lack of evidence, or not enough reason to believe, rather they had decided they did not want to believe.

First was with Margaret a Russian Orthodox, who saw that her goodness and attempts to honour God would not be enough on the day of judgement and that she would be found guilty. In response she asked what the solution was and when explained that it was that God purchases us from judgement by paying the debt Himself she was interested to hear more but when she heard that it was received by faith, not a result of works she rejected it. She said, she must do something to receive it.

Next was Kane. A simple gospel presentation was given and Kane was able to get the checking questions right. He understood what God has said in His word the Bible but at the end of it all Kane said, "I think I will just continue to trust myself". It was pointed out to Kane, the foolishness of his decision and he was strongly warned of the consequences of his choice, that he could be in Hell this very night. Interestingly during this conversation with Kane, two ladies sitting nearby who were at first listening into the conversation left in frustration because they didn't want to have to listen.

This was followed by a conversation with Jordan, who was harder at first than the previous two and was quite consistent in his attempts to escape God's judgement with his arguments. Later trying to justify his sin as not that bad. In the end he heard the gospel, he understood what God had said about sin and salvation and was able to comprehend it and repeat back the way of salvation but he declared that he would not believe.

The same thing happened with Ash a Nepalese man who had Buddhist leanings and saw how helpless he was in the system of Buddhism to deal with sin and guilt. In the end of it all though he declared that he really didn't want to have to live God's way, rather that he was content with his own ideas, his own standards and would continue living how he wanted to until he thought there was a need to change.

Lastly Simmo was in a similar boat. He was the hardest to keep on tract as he had many different ideas and arguments to try and distract from his guilt and God's offer of salvation but in the end despite him rejecting it he walked away knowing what God has done to save sinners and how he, a sinner, could be forgiven.

But after saying all this, today was not a failure. Not even because there were others who responded positively to the gospel but simply because God is in control. As the team we taught people who God is, what He has said about sin and the offer of forgiveness that He gives to those who will accept His terms of peace and God will do whatever He wills with this message that is now on their hearts. So may you pray for these five people that they will not continue to reject the gospel but they will dwell on the beauty of God's love and turn to Him for salvation, that this Easter they may be rejoicing in Him as their King!