Battle Log

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Thank you for praying for our Christmas outreaches in Brisbane city over the past 2 weeks. It was a great success with over 40,000 gospel tracts going into people's hands and plenty of gospel conversations had.

We rejoice that God even raised up new labourers to join us for a number of the nights. It was exciting to see these new labourers step out of their comfort zones to hand out tracts for possibly the first time and even start conversations with the lost, asking them, "What do you think happens after you die?"

Please now pray that those who heard or read the message would come to salvation. To God be all the glory!

If you have been considering coming along to an outreach but haven't yet, why not come along to an outreach near you: https://www.operation513.com/street-evangelism-teams/

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On Tuesday, It was Christmas Eve there were lots of people, especially families out in the city. It was such an great opportunity for us to share the gospel and overall people were more openly engaging into conversation than usual as it was Christmas Eve. 

I have encounter a person called ‘Simon’ who was agnostic. As I started the conversation he was laughing and smiling and said “you are talking to a wrong person” but strangely, he did not tell me to go away or to walk off. Simon shared that he believes in multi-verse where there should be another form of life like human exist and furthermore humans are limited being and that we are really good at creating our own God which includes the God of the bible and BIBLE itself so when I tried to reason him from the scripture he was asking me not to use the bible but rather philosophy or other reasoning. It was great opportunity for me to tell Simon why I believe BIBLE is God preserved words and shared the Gospel with him. Through out the whole conversation Simon seemed very uncomfortable and defensive but at the same time I could see his underlying interest and willingness to hear what I have to say about God and the cross. Please pray for Simon with us. 

There was young tourists from France, as I was handing out gospel tracts they showed interest so I had privilege to share the gospel with them. One of them were Muslim but not a practicing Muslim, he had quite limited knowledge about Quran itself but he asked me a question with genuine curiosity “how can God become a man?” I explained to him how it was necessary for God (Jesus) to come to the earth as a human making reference to Hebrews 2 and shared the gospel in detail. He really did engaged into conversation. please pray for these young tourists from France with me ! 

Overall, by God's grace all the team members had really good conversations and we were able to hand out all the Christmas gospel tracts ! Soli Deo Gloria ! 

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On Sunday afternoon, a team of four were in Cashel Mall: my three daughters joined me.

We split into pairs.  Haley and Julia found spots to hand out tracts, while Dani and I ran a flip chart together.

Dani and I had two good gospel conversations on the flip chart during the hour we were out.  I would pass over to Dani to do pages of the flip chart, and then she would pass back to me - a great way to get practice sharing the wonderful good news.

The first conversation was with a man with a Catholic background whom it was ingrained that, as long as he was good enough - he would be going to heaven.  Going through the law, and an explanation of the seriousness of sin, was very foreign to this man - and concerning.  He stayed to hear the good news.

The last conversation started when two teens were scooting past, and one of them saw the flip chart and wanted to give it a try.  They were engaged, and so a long conversation occurred.  They clearly understood the bad news, and then the glorious good news - and were able to repeat it back multiple times.  When asked what would stop them from accepting the gift of Jesus, nothing was - even after considering the cost.  So they were challenged to do so.  The accepted follow up tracts.

Haley and Julia were able to give away a number of tracts before we packed up and headed home.  So wonderful to see my daughters growing in their desire to communicate the good news of Jesus to the lost!

On Tuesday afternoon, I was able to find time to finish building a new flip chart (front page pictured) - with the help of my brother and his power tools to drill the holes for the metal bracket at the top.

I was able to use it for the first time on the Christmas Eve outreach in Riccarton.  There weren't as many people out as I was hoping - I guess most people drive into the mall for parking.  But I still was able to have a number of good conversations.

My first conversation was with a young man who said he was going to Valhalla.  But he said he loved talking about this stuff (the after life) and had grown up with a Christian background.  He got through the law before he had to go - he took a tract.

I had another guy interested in the flip chart immediately after the first conversation.  Sadly, he too bailed after hearing the law - he also took a tract.

But the highlight conversation was with three young men.  It was a challenging conversation, where they were grilling me with multiple questions at the same time.  It started off light hearted, but once they started understanding the logic of what I was explaining they sobered up.  Part way through the conversation, I had another two guys join in, and start peppering me with questions too!  It was too hard to deal with the new guys as well, so they took tracts and moved on.  The original guys heard the gospel before they moved on - but at least two of them were very resistant to it.  I would have loved to have more time with them.  They also accepted tracts.

Well, Merry Christmas!  God willing, some of the people talked to, or who received tracts will come to a proper understanding of why Jesus was born and will trust in His sacrifice!  Soli Deo Gloria!
 

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Battle Log for Toowong Village : Dec 24 , 2019 Tuesday 1330-1500

Praise and thanks God, the chance to have a chat , especially with UQ students were still plentiful despite of school holiday had started. Winnie in particular had 8 conversations as recap below in Chinese. All the other team member for today, Col, Johnny and Hung had all got their share of Gospel opportunities. For my eight conversation, they are recap as follows: -

1) Indian Christian family with the Mum walking ahead to be approached by me, did a brief chat and the other family members caught up. They seemed to be of Catholic Christian background that typically are lacking assurance of salvation. But they were pleased to be greeted with Merry Christmas with an explanation before they went on with the family happy hours.

2) Susan an English lady was polite to hear explanation of Merry Christmas.She also had clear 100% Assurance of salvation.

3) Amin, was an Indian man. I walked him to the bus stop across the shopping mall. He was torrent enough to hear the nutshell of the Gospel.

4) Liza, a middle age English lady who was so kind to take the tract and showed me the way to toilet.

5) Paul, Joy with three children from PNG. They are a Christian Family but was not clear about salvation. Yet they are Very happy to stay for a short while to chat and let me correct all mis-concept by the secular culture about Christmas.

6) A girl from from Xiamen who were willing to take my tract and let me explain. But Winnie asked to swap audience with Mandarin speaking Mr Ku.

7) Mr Ku from Hebei must have heard the gospel before.. It appeared that he is more than willing to receive Christ as his Savior and Lord.

8) Mother and daughter both with Tattoo appeared as non religious. Still happy to learn about the old meaning of Merry.

Winnie's battle Log : --

感謝讚美主 ！回家後才傾盆大雨。在 Toowong 傳福音後，多謝 關牧師載我們到醫院探望大哥。我為他傳福音，禱告。希望神憐憫他，醫治他。亦希望大哥能早日回轉，信靠主耶穌基督。

感謝神的带领，讓我今天有機會向七人傳了福音。數錯了，應該是八人。

第一對是中國少女，學生。Lillian & May. 第二位 是印度人，他説他信印度教。我解释他 耶稣基督與他的神是不同的。第三對，是中國來的大学生及女友來澳洲遊玩的。他們得到福音，正準備問及教會地址。我記得上次 Kenneth 给我咭片，我從手袋找给他們，可惜巴士到達，他們馬上上車。之后有一中國男學生叫 Bie 及女留學生叫 Grace，他們都接受了福音。最后一位是澳洲老年人，他説，他和太太曾经去過教會，但他們被教會欺骗，因此便永遠不再去了。我説 信耶稣基督 是你與神的關係，與教會無關，得益是你。你可以找另一教會。談了一輪，看他開始軟化，求神憐憫他們，讓他們重回主的懷裏！

感謝神 今天讓我有更多的考验，練習。這都是神的恩典。感謝讚美主！

 

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This Thursday we were at Northlands before heading to Eastgate for bus stop outreach.

Again, I relied on tracts to get conversations started.  And, sure enough, God brought along some people who were willing to chat.

I had a great conversation with two young ladies - one of whom said very early on that she thought she would be going to hell, which was surprising.  We dialoged through the law and the gospel, and then I started working on confirming that they understood it.  A few times through checking questions and I think understanding was coming.  But at the same time, there was a hardening to the message.  The cost to accept the gift seemed too great.

There was an encouraging encounter with a Christian who recognised the Eternity tract I handed to her - knowing the story behind it.  As she left, she said warmly: “this is the first time I’ve ever received a gospel tract!”.  God willing, as the years go by, may many people continue to receive tracts for the first time in Christchurch (NZ).

I had three other conversations at Northlands before heading to Eastgate: 1) A follow up with two guys I had talked to outside the bus exchange a previous Friday night - they were not interested in the gospel.  2) With two guys who had just finished high school - the building; builder / universe; universe maker analogy really helped and they listened well.

But the last conversation was with an older man who walked past and asked something about going on holiday.  I offered him a tract, and he said he already had one - so I asked him what he thought about it.  It turns out that this man had been part of a church all his early life (at least), but when I probbed him on what Christianity was all about he was clueless.  He suddenly didn’t want to talk, and turned to go.  But I stopped him, and said that this was the most important thing to think about.  I gave him a detailed tract (After Life) and asked him to read it through.  He accepted it.

At Eastgate, I had many conversations, including with an atheist, and a young man who was wrestling with some life struggles but who heard the gospel.

Friday followed the usual schedule, starting with the gospel + abortion outreach in the morning (which I posted about on the Project 139 Facebook page)

The weather changed to sour near the end of that outreach, and by the time we made it into Cathedral Square, there weren’t too many people about.  Andy and I sang a Christmas Carol with Kelvin the busker, before we headed off in search of gospel conversations.

Andy had a long conversation with a very resistant tourist (German I think), And I had conversations with two sets of people from Holland: a Christian couple, and then a young man who heard, but was resistant to the gospel.

Later in the afternoon, I open air preached and immediately following that Andy & I had a great follow up conversation with three young people.

We finished the afternoon outreach with Andy open air preaching.

The weather had improved for the evening outreach, and there were lots of people out  - I guess many were celebrating the last day of work?  There was a team of three: Andy, Mike and myself.

Andy and Mike seemed to have some great (long) conversations (as pictured).

I had two noteworthy gospel conversations: the first was with a German tourist, but the stand out was with a man who was very drunk.  He couldn’t believe I was asking him about God, but he sat me down wanting to talk.  Verbally, he was very resistant to the gospel, but he wasn’t hiding how deeply he was being impacted - the muscles in his jaw were working over time, as he processed and understood what I was saying.  He kept reflecting back to his mother who was “very spiritual”.  He took a detailed tract, and I told him to put it in his pocket and read it in the morning - I hope he does.
 

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Thursday - just after midnight - saw the opening of the new Star Wars movie.  The Christchurch (NZ) team had some Star Wars tracts left over from an outreach a few years ago (pictured in storm trooper outfits) and so it was time to give them away (minus the outfits this time)!  A team of two: Jermaine joined me.

Our plan was to turn up a couple of hours before the movie started and hand out tracts to those heading in.  We were too early - there was no one around, but God provided some wonderful follow up conversations while we waited.

The picture theater is opposite the bus exchange, and a couple of guys I’ve talked to many times before (and who I regularly pray for), were heading into it.  We headed over, and we were able to continue the conversation - they had a friend I hadn’t met before.  They invited me into the bus exchange to talk further... when I encountered yet another young man that I’ve had two good gospel conversations with before - he had some other friends I hadn’t talked to.  And then a security guard walked up… because she wanted a Star Wars gospel tract!  I couldn’t talk to all of them, so Jermaine talked with the new group, while I talked with the original group.

The two guys I have talked to many times before were still no more interested in the gospel.  But their friend was curious and so I focused on taking them through the law and the gospel.  It was difficult, because one of the other guys kept interrupting and trying to take the conversation off track.  In the end, I only had time to go through the law as their bus came.  But a detailed tract (After Life) was received.

The guys Jermaine was talking to had also left, so we headed back over to the picture theater to start handing out the Star Wars tracts.  It worked out great, as there was only one entrance - So Jermaine took one side, and I the other.  And, sure enough, plenty of Star Wars fans started appearing (many in costume) and the tracts started going out.  I had a gospel conversation with one young atheist while he was waiting for a friend.

At one point early on, one of the people that worked for the picture theater came out wondering what we were doing, when Jermaine told him his response was: “Oh, that’s wonderful - we need more people doing this!”  He was a Christian!  He helped us by collecting discarded tracts (inside the theater) and giving them back to us so we could give them to someone else.

All the tracts we had were distributed - about 200.  And the guy who worked in the theater took the last few and said he would give them out.

This outreach was a bit of a risk, as I didn’t know if it would work.  But God was faithful and brought us many opportunities for the gospel as we stepped out in faith.  I was very encouraged.  May He save some through these feeble efforts - all glory to Him!
 

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To save you having to wait, let me tell you now that at the end we went home rejoicing! Think about it. What could be a better way to serve Him than asking for grace to glorify Him as we thankfully obey Him and then experiencing that grace as we tell forth His great good news? However, we have limits and we ask for prayer for Lee-Anne as she seeks healing for a pain. 

     Our 2 ladies had 2 highlights to share with us:

        - about 8 young adults heard God's standard of righteousness per the 10 commandments. They were able to see how desperately they needed the Lord Jesus alone "to save them from their sins" (- Mt. 1:21 part of the revelation dealing with Jesus miraculous conception)...

          - S. & S., a young couple, ended up agreeing that  this was God's appointed rendezvous. She received a Bible and what a wonderful Christmas present if they receive Jesus, Jn. 1:12,13 (A. W. Pink comments that receiveas used here has the connotation of saving faith). 

Fynn was treated to taking 2 of his former school acquaintances, L. & S., through the flip chart. They had heard the gospel previously from Fynn, but 'shelved' it. How blessed they were to hear it again - while they still have time to respond - favorably, we pray.

  As we were preparing to close in prayer, a man and 2 teenaged daughters started looking at the flip chart by themselves. Fynn returned and escorted them through. At the presentation of the consequence of their sin was hell unless... the man said it was a nice story as they walked away." Where can I flee from Thy Spirit "

In general, many received tracts and most were 'extra' polite.

Thank you Lord for equipping us and using us for Your glory and we humbly ask that you would continue to build Your church against which the gates of Hades cannot prevail - as You have promised- You cannot lie!

 

 

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On Saturday, as usual we gathered at the Starbucks to pray and share the words to get ready with evangelism. This week we focused on handing out Christmas gospel tracts as we had many of them left. 

But by God’s grace we had quite a few conversations that were interesting and God glorifying. I met four teenagers who were quite rough in their speech and did not concentrate well to the message but they found the gospel tract interesting. However, as conversation started, one teenager was very much engaged in conversation when other three were not. It seems she listened to every words that was shared very carefully and answer the questions honestly and appropriately, she even helped me to calm the other guy as he was disturbing the conversation and getting angry at me, she could see the need of our saviour Jesus Christ after the law of God was displayed. Please pray for all the teenagers so that they may repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ.  

One middle aged Muslim man showed interest in MERRY CHRISTMAS gospel tract so I had privilege to share the gospel with him. He was accusing Christianity’s legitimacy with very common objection including ‘bible being changed overtime’ & ‘Jesus not being God’. He was willing to listen to my answer for his objections and finally the conversation led to the main point of the gospel. He took the whole conversation seriously and it seemed like he was quite convinced on the point that if God is truly God of love and justice how can GOD reconcile those two character in pardoning the sinners without someone like 'Jesus Christ’. Please pray for him as you read the report. 

From Canaan:- 

I spoke to a Seik (I think that's how it's spelled) man who didn't know the Gospel or much of Christ at all. He didn't know of the virgin birth or much at all of Jesus dying on the cross. He believed in being good to go to heaven and that God would judge everybody when we die. As we spoke about sin and our own guilt before God he seemed to be thinking quite a bit on it and expressed that he didn't think he could ever stop certain sins and seemed concerned because he knows he will face God one day.

I shared the Gospel of grace and he was grateful to hear of grace instead of works salvation. We ended our conversation as his lunch break was over. Please keep him in prayer. SOLI DEO GLORIA ! 

              

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A wonderful outreach to Riccarton, Tuesday afternoon.  Roger and I - as usual.  It was windy and cold, but we missed some rain either side of the outreach - thank you Lord!

Roger had a gospel conversation started before he had barely had time to finish setting up his flip chart.  It was a long chat, but a goodie.  He was clicking his heels afterwards!

I had four interesting gospel conversations through the outreach.  I was pacing myself again, but God was faithful and brought along these people who were very keen to chat.

The first was with a young man from Scotland.  He seemed pretty resistant to the idea that God exists, but he was curious about the flip chart, and so I took him through the law and the gospel.  It turns out that the guy he works for is a Christian, and had even had him along to a church event.  This guy was obviously processing the important questions of life before he even came to me.  He left with the tract: “How we know that God exists and why it matters”.

I then had two separate conversations with Catholics.  Both thought they were good people and going to heaven, but the law showed them how good they needed to be - before I showed them the way to heaven: faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for their sin.  With one of them, it was fascinating watching the guy try to avoid the difficult question: “if you were to die today, and be judged by God, by that standard, would you be innocent or guilty?”  Each time I would just listen to his answer, and then repeat the question.  On the third time, he admitted he would be guilty.

The last conversation was with a young man on his way to work.  I didn’t need to convince him to try the good person test, he wanted to do it.  It’s like he knew what it was about and wanted to talk.  And he seemed very open.  He said there would be nothing stopping him from trusting in Jesus' sacrifice to be saved - even after he considered the cost.  So I challenged him to do so, to start reading his Bible, and to get in touch to get connected with a local church.

Wednesday was four seasons, but it didn’t stop the outreach in the city from proceeding.  I ended up parking myself at the southern entrance to Cathedral Square (without my flip chart - too windy).  In spite of the weather, I had a number of good conversations.

The first was with a young, high school aged, couple.  They were not interested in the gospel.  They clearly loved their sin too much.  But they stayed to engage, and they heard the law and the gospel.  He sobered up a little bit, as he realised the logic of what we were discussing - but the cost was way too high (for now anyway).

I then engaged in a difficult conversation with a guy, who knew he was a sinner, had tried to get involved with a church, but didn’t see any change in his life and gave it up.  I tried to share the gospel with him, but he seemed hardened.  But he accepted an “After Life” tract, and I hope it does a better job of explaining than I did.  I hope to see him again to follow up.

The last conversation was with two young Indian guys.  One seemed quite sobered by hearing the law and understood the gospel.  The other understood too, but clearly rejected it - again, after counting the cost.

Tonight (at midnight) the new Star Wars movie will be showing.  Two of us are going to try running an outreach in the two hours leading up to it outside a movie theater.  We have special tracts for this.  God willing many, who wouldn’t have otherwise, will hear the gospel.  I'll write about it in my next log entry.
 

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On Tuesday in Melbourne city, three of us gathered to preach the gospel in this Christmas season. The weather was lovely and pleasant. It was joy to have my friend Joshua as a team who goes to reformed theological college with me.  

By God’s grace we had many good conversations. We met a person called Terun who was from hindu religion background but interestingly he told me “my family is hindu but follow Christianity but not me” so he was quite open to the chat about the gospel. Overall, he was polite and engaged in conversation really well. Please pray for him so that he may repent and put his trust in Jesus Christ. 

Kevin was a interesting person who was muslim but he was so open about the gospel although he shared that according to Quran good deeds will save him. When gospel was shared he saw the need for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and he said “yeah that really makes sense”. We also share that believing in Jesus Christ is not a ‘shirk’ (which is sin of idolatry or polytheism, unforgivable sin in Islam. We recently learned from Dr James White it is good to mention about this when evangelising to muslims) as Jesus is GOD himself, truly God and truly man and shared some bible verses to support that. He did not give definite answer about believing in Jesus Christ but he seemed very challenged with whole conversation. Please pray for Kevin.

Jay was the last person that I have talked to, He told me that he is suffering from Schizophrenia and many other mental issues. He was quite aggressive, loud and unsettled in behaviour I was little bit scared and afraid but God has given me a beautiful chance to share the gospel with him. He said he believe that we are energy and when we die we will become energy and meet each other he was very very firm with his idea of being energy but when I did shared the gospel with him, Jay said “I am surprised bro that you are still standing here and talking to me like this but I like how you stand firm in what you believe bro” and he showed me his ‘anti-cross’ Tatto on his face to show me that I am talking to a wrong person. As chat went on it seems like he was getting more agitated and made some threatening comment so I summarised the gospel and left. Please Please pray for Jay so that he may repent and put his trust in Jesus Christ 

From Huy Do : 

On the 17th of December, one eccounter was wrought with a person by the name of Sam, he is a Muslim, although not very devout, he has an idea of God which makes it easier for the conversation to be brought about. The law was gone over with him and he was convicted, he admitted to lying and stealing and lusting and premarital relationships and got quite angry. This reminded me of a quote from Paul Washer, that “no one has been able to bare the preaching of the Gospel. They will either turn against it with a fierceness of an animal or they will be converted.” Which brings up the next point, that while I explained the purpose of the law, was to expose his own sinfulness and the wrath of God due upon Him, he became a little more understanding, although angrily at that. But when I shared with him the Gospel, the cross that satisfied the wrath of God, he was very resistant to the message, although he had been angry at his sinfulness and overwhelmed at the wrath of God, yet the good news that should comfort him, he denied, this proves John 3:19-20. Either way, the Gospel was preached, please pray that God will change Sam’s heart and that the Cross will be preached in an uncompromising way as Luther put “preach the cross so that either they end up  hating sin or hating you”.

Soli Deo Gloria !!​

       

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