Battle Log

The weekend saw two outreaches for the Christchurch (NZ) team, both in the city: Cathedral Square on Saturday, and Cashel Mall + Preaching in Cathedral Square on Sunday.

I thought Saturday’s outreach was going to be quiet, but as I patiently handed out tracts, God saw fit to bring Gospel conversations.

I had a fascinating conversation with two guys.  One who needed an emphasis on grace, and the other needing an emphasis on the law.  Both of them gave facial expressions at different times that showed they were listening and understanding, but, sadly, both seemed to reject the Gospel.

The first guy clearly stated that he deserved hell for what he had done and expressed a hopelessness.  He seemed to struggle as I explained grace: that Jesus had died for the worst of sinners.  But he soon recovered his composure and raised his mask and defences, and started talking crazy stuff.

The second guy looked into the distance as I explained the law to him.  His self righteousness was being challenged: he admitted he would be guilty and deserved hell, and so I turned the corner and started to explain the Gospel of Jesus, and then he raised his mask and defences by cutting me off.  He didn’t want to hear it.  He then started talking about Islam - he was obviously recently listening to it’s teaching.

For both of them, I could see that I wouldn’t be able to convince them.  So I patiently listened to them till they decided to move on.

But there is still hope for both of them!

I also had some very encouraging conversations with Catholics.

One was with a guy I had had a long talk to outside the hospital about a month ago.  It was great to see him again and have the opportunity to call him to faith alone in Christ alone again.

The second was very providential.  On Thursday Andy & I were debating whether someone claiming to be a Catholic could be saved.  I was on the side of no, because a “born again Catholic” who believed in justification by grace alone through faith alone would need to move out of the Catholic church which does not teach that.

Well, God sent along a man and his wife, to challenge me!  The man was very keen to chat, and claimed to be a Catholic who emphatically stood against Catholic doctrine in claiming to believe in justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone!  It turns out he doesn’t attend mass too often, and he does have some contact with a local church.  We had a great chat, but I did call him away from Rome completely and to commit to a sound local church.

The Sunday outreach saw a team of 8.

The family of three again joined us for the second time.  And today one of them gave out their first Gospel tracts with some polite interaction!  He was very encouraged.  I captured the moment in one of the photos.

At one point all three flip charts had Gospel conversations running - very encouraging.

And I had a wonderful opportunity while I was taking a photo of two of those conversations.  A young man (you can see his knee in the photo) walked over and stood there with an expression on his face that said: “please talk to me about the Gospel”.  I gladly obliged!  :)

It turns out this man had a Catholic school background, and had a school friend who had suddenly become a Christian.  It’s obvious he had been watching the change in his friend and wanted to understand it.  I had a wonderful time discussing the law and the Gospel with him.

It was clear he was understanding grace as he made the comment: “so I can just keep sinning and do what I want”.  No, if we have received God’s grace, our life will change and we will no longer want to sin, even though we will.  And I was able to continue discussing the concepts with him.

He seemed appreciative, and took a tract.  I hope he discusses the Gospel conversation further with his friend.

We finished the outreach with preaching in Cathedral Square.

All glory to God!
 

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