Battle Log

Only 1 street outreach this week.  The others were replaced with online work due to weather (Friday) or other events (engagement party on Saturday, and baptisms on Sunday).  So, this is probably going to be shorter than usual!

 

Roger was with me in Riccarton on Tuesday.  Autumn is in the air, it is cold!  I wasn’t prepared for it, so we ended up wrapping up a little early.  Yet in the time we were there we had gospel opportunities.

 

The highlight for me was a chat with a couple of guys - high school age.  I was frustrated to hear one of them say that their English teacher has told them: “There is only 1 thing you can be certain of: that you can’t be certain of anything”.  Not only is that statement a contradiction (yes, I know they are trying to play on words), but it is completely untrue.  There are many things we are certain of (for example, that your house had a builder).  And it’s a subtle attack against God, who is certain.  I wish they would teach Logic at school, and they should maybe get this English teacher to teach it - he might learn something!

 

Anyway, I spent time with this young lad showing him how we can be certain, and proceeded to share the law and gospel.  It was a good chat.

 

So, this affords me some time to talk about the online outreach I did this week.  

 

First up: on Tuesday, I was paired up with Jack for the first chat on the live stream: a duo chat.  We were paired up with a young man from the USA.  He wasn’t very talkative, but he followed along.  And it was wonderful watching him smile as he came to grasp the gospel.  He made a profession of faith.

 

On Wednesday, 2 highlight chats were with 2 young ladies from Tauranga.  I think there was some Adventist influence, because the sabbath came up.  But I didn’t let that become a distraction from sharing the gospel.  They also made professions.  And then a chat with a young man from the UK - there was resistance from him, but he stuck around for 30 minutes as I walked him through all the check questions.

 

On Thursday I had a duo chat with Jone with a guy who said he liked the 10 commandments.  But, it was his own form of the 10 commandments, with a whole lot of exceptions built in so he could sin as he pleased.  We spent 30 minutes with him before his resistance went up a few notches and there wasn’t much point in continuing.

 

On Friday I had a great chat with a couple of guys somewhere in New Zealand.  Catholic school.  They were being silly initially, but they stayed around for 16 minutes for a complete chat.  Ended up being a good chat.

 

And then, because the rain was so heavy on Friday, I went over to Rogers place to get him set up for online outreach again.  I ended up having an amazing chat with a young man who lives in the same city as Roger and I!  He was in home detention (he showed us the bracelet on his ankle).  Sadly, he is only 13, and the reason for the home detention is because he was involved with a ram raid (driving a car into a shop to rob it).  I was able to share the gospel with him, and start moving through the check questions.  It was so good when he had a penny drop moment.  From that point on (as he saw how the gospel made sense) he was weighing up the cost - he knew his life would change, and he didn’t like that idea.  E.g., he didn’t want to go to church.  But he stuck around for me to be able to point him to the book of John in the Bible, and 2 good local churches close to him.  He is so bored being on home detention, I hope he will read it.

 

Speaking of Roger, I got a text from him earlier saying he had a great online chat with a drug dealer up north.  This is what I responded with: “That’s who we want to reach!  Go for the sinner and go for the worst!  May he start dealing: Jesus”.

 

On Saturday I had a fascinating online chat with a young man for 23 minutes.  He was working in London in a warehouse picking stock for orders.  His job must be so boring that he can do it and have chats online at the same time!  Anyway, he thinks about the afterlife “all the time”, and although there was some resistance as I took him through the law, he ended up understanding the gospel, and seemed impressed enough to start reading the bible for himself.  It was so fun chatting with him while he was automatically moved around the whole warehouse.  May God have mercy on him!

 

But not only do we have face to face chats with strangers online, we also have text chats via Instagram and TikTok DM.  This morning I had a great chat with an intellectual young Mormon (well, I assume he is young; and I’m pretty sure it’s a he).  He wanted to argue about baptism?  But that was a distraction, I focused on getting him through the law, and towards the gospel.  The more we chatted, the clearer it was how uncertain he was about things that are obvious (logical).  And he was resistant, he was fighting to take the conversation off on a tangent, but I wouldn’t let him.  I love him too much.  Even if he is resistant now, may his suppression be shaken for future gospel seed to take root.

 

I’ve also had the privilege of training 2 young men in online evangelism this week.  Both from the USA, and both so different in personality, and yet both passionate to share these truths with others.  It was wonderful seeing these young men getting their feet wet!  Glory to God!

 

So, yet another wonderful week of outreach.  The opportunity to engage people with the gospel is limitless.  Evangelism is as essential in our lives as prayer, reading the Bible and church.  I hope you are encouraged to get involved with the harvest!  All glory to God alone.

 

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