Battle Log

Tuesday saw outreach resume in the Riccarton area & Wednesday saw outreach in the township just north of Christchurch called Kaiapoi for the first time.

The Riccarton outreach was dominated by one conversation that went for about an hour.  It was with an Italian man who I would describe as... passionate!  Although it was a good and friendly conversation, multiple times I had to clarify that I wasn’t there for an argument, and to ask him to calm down.

He was very linguistically focused (knowing 4 languages) and would want to discuss the meaning of certain words in the Old Testament of the Bible to try to prove certain points that I wasn’t too clear of.  I would listen for good periods, and then try to steer the conversation back to the simplicity of the law and the Gospel.  But he would listen for a while, and then pull the conversation back down a rabbit trail.

In the end, I never really got a chance to talk about the Gospel (sadly, he wasn’t interested).

As is often the case, his concern was with why God (whom he didn’t deny) allows suffering.  It seemed that a lot of his logic came from “new atheists” like Dawkins.

As we were not making any progress in the conversation, multiple times I tried to disengage and wish him a good day.  But he didn’t want to let it go for some reason.  At one point he said: “I answered all your questions, and now I want you to answer my question!”  Even after explaining that he was under no obligation to answer my questions, he insisted on staying and talking.  There were times when I just didn’t have good answers on hand.  And so I would be honest and just say so.

Eventually he did disengage, and oddly he apologised.  We parted on good terms.

Wednesday’s focus was on four hours of door to door knocking in Kaiapoi.  It was a wonderful time of ministry with some excellent Gospel conversations.

The stand out conversation was with a lady with a young family.  Initially, when we first knocked in the morning, she wasn’t able to talk, but she said we could come back - saying the afternoon would be fine.  And so after lunch we went back, and she welcomed us in for a chat.

We were able to share the law and the Gospel in some depth, asking checking questions multiple times.  There was no visible sign of contrition, but seemed interested in what we were talking about.  She gladly took a Bible and other literature.

A teenage son, who was home sick, also heard the Gospel and I had an opportunity to ask if he understood what was discussed, by giving him a checking question.  He answered well by saying: “I need to trust in Jesus to go to heaven” - I was encouraged.

We asked the mother what her partner though about spiritual things.  And she said he was very open, and that they would often talk about them.  We asked her to discuss these things with her partner and gave her contact details if they wanted to discuss further.

She thanked us for our time, and we thanked her for hers.

Another wonderful conversation was with two contractors on a break, sitting in their van, waiting for concrete to dry.  They were originally from the Philippines and were happy to chat with us.  After hearing the Gospel, they also gladly took Bibles and other Gospel literature.

Many other good Gospel conversations were had.  Something that interested me was that none of the people we talked to while door knocking denied the existence of God.  There is much opportunity to discuss the Gospel.  Please join me in praying that the Holy Spirit would use the plowing of hearts (by the law), and the seed (the Gospel) sown today, to bring fruit for His glory.
 

---