Battle Log

Sunday, 31 January, 2021

Posted 31 January 2021, 3:48 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Saturday I was online with the team.  It was a great outreach.  For me it started with a wonderful chat but then it started to get harder.  At one point I had chats with three likely false converts in a row.  And it ended with a very difficult chat with a couple of lesbians.

First up the easier / wonderful chat was with a guy who said it was 10 pm, and too late for such deep questions!  I managed to convince him that it was quite simple and proceeded to take him through the law and the gospel.  He seemed to be deeply impacted and very appreciative of the chat.

I had a chat with a girl who seemed sad and introspective - didn’t know the gospel.  Part way through the chat she said that it was an interesting ‘coincidence’ that she was talking to me, because she was going back to church tomorrow.  She came to understand the gospel by the end of the chat.

Next up was a Catholic kid who was super glad to hear the gospel.  He asked good questions at the end which showed his engagement.

It was at this point the conversations became harder and I had to confront (as gently as possible) some people about if they were really Christians.  This often leads to explosions.  Thankfully that didn’t happen.  One of them even thanked me!

The chat with the lesbians started with one of them saying that she was angry at God for making a law against homosexuality.  But then, actually people had misinterpreted the rule - so God is actually ok - as though she was the judge of what is ok!  So going from there we talked about who God is, why he gets to make the rules, and why the rules are the way they are.  In the process I was able to go through the law and the gospel.  I did my best to communicate both truth and love.  It was clear they were rejecting the gospel at this stage.

On Sunday there was a team of three: Mike, Andy and myself.  Lots of people out due to the buskers festival.

I had an interesting chat with a guy who accepted the Old Testament and the Gospels, but rejected the writings of Paul!  He was subtly believing in faith + works to save him as opposed to what the Old Testament and the Gospels teach!  We are justified by grace through faith alone!  We parted on good terms, but I pretty much terminated the discussion.

Mike and I had a great chat with 3 teen Christians, again possible false conversion?  I was able to be razor precise on dealing with the question: “why do we go to heaven?”.  I hope it helped them.

In the late afternoon I was paired with Grace for ‘training Sunday’.  As always it’s so good to be able to listen to and discuss the gospel conversations we were having through the outreach!

Thank you for your prayer and support of this ministry.  To God alone be all the glory!