Battle Log

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On Saturday 4th May, there were just two in our team available to go out, was still a really blessed time and God was so good to bring many different people across our path that day.

While I was setting up, a man who had been begging came up to me with a coffee he had been given that he didn't need as had two. He asked me what I was doing and I explained we were a Christian ministry about to speak to people about Jesus and the afterlife and hand out tracts to people.

The man said he was named Phil, and that he was a spiritualist/medium who says he has/can see demons! He took some tracts to read which was good, and I believed what he had said!

Three young people of Primary school age came to look at the intelligence test while I was finishing setting up the gear, and they were eager to try and get them right, and with their Mum and Nan were able to go through the good person flip chart. I was aware I would have to simplify/ explain some of the pictures and what I was there for as the boys were age 8-10, but they listened very well and took some comic book tracts and said they understood the gospel message that wa shared.

Laurie and I managed to pray before we properly started as usually as soon as we put up the intelligence test questions people start to walk by and stop to read. Teenagers from the school I work at walked past again which Laurie managed to witness to and give tracts and answer questions, as well as a member of staff who brought her 23 year old son to listen after a conversation with her at work about what we did. He listened intently, and his Mum was visibly a bit taken aback at all we spoke of but managed to stay and he took some tracts to read and said he had a Bible to read.

Just before I started preaching I managed to get two University students to stop to talk. As I was witnessing to them, another man walked past, stopped and interrupted us asking what I was talking about. He was visibly on drink/drugs but was coherent and listened intently as I shared the gospel ith the two guys, and when they left he stayed to talk. He was called Dean and said he had been to prison over 30 times before for different reasons.

I managed to share the analogy of his fine being paid in relation to prison and the judge, and he was happy to take tracts and a Bible to read. (I shared this encounter at Church the next day and we all prayed for him as I really felt a strong conviction for his soul and difficulty his life was in.)

I later managed to preach linking Thanos in the latest Avengers firm and his special glove with the infinity stones in and peoples choice of what they would do if they had those powers? Some people had said they would bring back all the people in the world that had ever died, or getting rid of bad people, so I asked if the public would therefore still be around? I mentioned a woman who had recently been in the news filmed secretly on CCTV stealing money from woman in her care with Alzheimer's, and what we do in secret and in the dark is seen by God as if its light, meaning we all needed a Saviour!

It led to some people stopping to listen and more tracts and conversations with people, Laurie notably speaking to another man that stopped that looked like he had been in a bad way with the law, and with the beautiful weather and God's grace we had a blessed day with lots of people having the chance to read a tract or listen to the gospel being preached.

 

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It has been a hard couple of weeks in Hobart. As many of you may know Tasmania is very keen on LGBTI issues and there is a lot of zeal for all things LGBTI. Since it is election time and since the advent of the Israel Folau witch hunt people have become quite sensitive. Israel is an object lesson for anyone who considers anti-discrimination law benign and modern “inclusion” policies as a protection for all. In the same way, my experiences here in Hobart are a parable of what is coming on our nation.

In this last two weeks I have been assaulted, spat at, physically intimidated, threatened, screamed at, and given a death threat. If you missed that read it again and reflect on this, the people who did this claim to represent “love is love”, “inclusion”, “diversity”, “tolerance” and “equality”. Yes, these things were all done by people identifying as LGBTI or an LGBTI supporter.

My aim, as all my brothers and sisters in Operation 513, is to share the gospel. That is why we go out to the streets week after week. I do not hate or particularly target any one group, rather I speak to the issues of the day and seek to use them to turn people to Jesus in faith. The gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive to unsaved sinners and when it is preached there is a (sometimes violent) rejection that naturally comes to the fallen human heart. We all accept that there are people who will oppose the gospel being preached, Satan hates this work so no surprise. But our Lord told us to follow Him and go preach the gospel, after we have counted the cost.

So, in the midst of all the good things that are happening in Hobart I would ask you please dear reader to pray for safety and grace from God to face these hard things with calm and joy in our hearts.

And there are many good things happening in Hobart! God is good and there have been many wonderful opportunities and blessings. Not least of these I am not injured and the police intervened to limit one of the incidents. Praise God for that!

On Friday this week I was getting set up and noticed a group of young women loitering around the area looking at me frequently. Looking at their climate signs I could see that they were part of the strike for climate change movement, so I began to read from Genesis and speak of the need to care for the world that God had given us and each other. I pointed out that we fail in obeying God’s commands now just like our first parents Adam and Eve. We do not love God as God, nor our neighbours as ourselves, nor care for and keep the world as we should.

These discussions were welcomed by the young women but a couple of them were busting to ask a question: “What does God think of lesbians?”. To answer I took them to three parts of God’s word. Firstly, Genesis teaches that all women area made to reflect the image of God, therefore lesbians too are precious feminine image bearers. Secondly, the Law of God teaches that all sex outside of faithful heterosexual marriage is sinful and deserving of death and hell, lesbians therefore by their sinful actions are under God’s judgement. Lastly, the whole of the new testament teaches that all types of sinful people can be saved from judgement through repentance and faith in Jesus, lesbians then can be saved through faith in Jesus.

So, to summarise; lesbians are precious people made in God’s image, they are marred by sin and under God’s judgement, yet they are able to be saved through repentant faith in Jesus Christ.

This discussion then led to a long discussion with these and a whole series of other teens around many different questions. The questions were many and varied including: How can we know the Bible is trustworthy?  What about Dinosaurs? Are you saying atheists can’t be moral? What about dating of fossils – they’re older than the timeline of Bible? Historical sources can’t be trusted, can they? What about climate change?

Through all these things I tried to give both gospel and answers. Answers to questions are good and they may help people accept the gospel. Ultimately though, it is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation for all who believe.

Later in the day I was preaching on the offensiveness of the gospel of salvation and our need to be disturbed, shaken awake, and shown our spiritual danger. During this a young lady came up who wanted to speak to me. She believed that she was a homosexual transgender man, and due to the things I have said in the past she apparently felt “rage” whenever she saw me. She believed that I should not be allowed to speak as I do and say the things I do because they are so hurtful and discriminatory. She was happy in her identity and did not want me to disturb her comfort in this regard.

I responded that I dearly wanted her and all people to be disturbed and change their identification and who they naturally are. We are all people who naturally do what is morally wrong and have frequent cause for regret due to the things we do (me also!). Our consciences and God’s law tell us that we desperately need change, that there is eternal consequences if we don’t, yet we lack the desire and/or power to do so. God offers to come and change us through Jesus Christ, first to declare us not guilty before Him by grace through faith, then to make us holy through His Holy Spirit, then to take us to heaven to be permanently free of the disease of sin which is our natural birthright.

To round out these good things, I had a great discussion with Mr L and his friend. He has been coming to listen for a period and has even stood up for me a couple of times when others are being quite unfair in debate. He is an agnostic and very open to hearing other perspectives. Because of this he is very keen to see more public discussions occur in the mall and thanked me for the Christian manner that I have behaved in the past. Please God impact these young men for Christ through what they hear. I encouraged Mr L to consider some of the evidence for God that is easily available for those that are willing to look. We shook hands and parted ways smiling.

So, in the midst of difficulties there is always good things that the Lord is doing.

Oh Lord God almighty, please keep our eyes on you in trying times, be our comfort and our joy. Amen!

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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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As the team headed out to Cavill Avenue there was a large stage and band set up blaring music through the mall, meaning the outreach was a little harder than normal. The team had to speak louder to be heard and this meant it was harder to start conversations.

God is good though and enabled many conversations to take place. The team of eight were able to have over thirty five conversations between them.

You can hear Ben encouraging you that even though it was hard going tonight, you should consider coming out some time!

Also hear from Matt sharing about a funny introduction with Connor followed by a saddening conversation with Aaron. These conversations are sad because the gospel is such good news that it is foolish to reject it but many people will trade almost anything for Christ. 

Please be praying for those who heard the gospel that God would use these conversations to bring about their salvation and His glory!

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The hardest part of evangelism at a bus stop is the evangelism. Actually having time to tell of the good news about what Christ has done, with the context of the bad news, the each of us has made ourselves enemies of God by our sin is tough. The more you do it though, the better you become. The added struggle is that at Sunnybank there is usually a language barrier as well and even less understanding of Christianity than normal.

Thursday's outreach started off in a whirlwind of conversations in the first ninety minutes twelve conversations took place back to back. What is exciting though is now instead of getting to the end of the law, which was the struggle, it is getting easier to get through to the gospel before the bus arrives. This afternoon two early conversations too place where the gospel was explained and it was checking question time as the bus arrived.

The first was with Sara an Indian lady who saw her guilt via the law, the judgement that was coming because reincarnation (which she at first believed) doesn't deal with justice. And then was shown that for forgiveness to be given, someone must pay and she came to comprehend what God did to pay for the sin of those who believe. Sadly there wasn't time to expound fully on what it means to believe in Christ or to check that she understood the simple message of faith alone but she took a tract and was encouraged to have a read.

Next with with Zel and Joe. Joe wasn't super keen to hear but he listened where as Zel engaged in the questions. They too were shown their guilt, the penalty sin deserves and were asked if they knew what Christ had done to save sinners. They had some idea but the good news of what Christ had does was explained and they were encouraged to rely on him alone as they didn't get to stay for checking questions before their bus arrived.

There were a mixture of other people, some who tried to defend their innocence by declaring that everyone does wrong things, others who tried to claim that God doesn't exist after the law revealed their guilt and others still who heard what God had said and how one can be forgiven and then chose to reject it on the basis of their own desire to keep living their own way. These people desperately need God to soften their heart otherwise they will never come to trust in Christ!

On the other hand there was one very exciting conversation with Joel. He attends a local church but had never understood the way to Heaven. He said he would go to Heaven when he dies because he's a pretty good guy. Over the next ten minutes Joel was taken step by step through the story of the gospel, seeing that because God is good he is in trouble, that our efforts will never get us to the standard God expects but that God in his grace provided a substitute to take our place so that anyone who accepts his gift of forgiveness by trusting in what Christ has done can go to Heaven!

Joel understood this, he was able to explain back how someone can get to Heaven and therefore said that today he would trust in Christ! He was challenged to count the cost and was shown that those who trust in Christ will turn from their sin out of love for God and was encouraged to start reading his Bible every day!

Praise God for such a wonderful afternoon filled with many opportunities to tell others of the glory and goodness of our God! Why don't you join us sometime?

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On Wednesday in Brisbane city the team out to preach Christ and Him crucified to the lost and broken people of this world. The afternoon had some great reminders and was encouraging as well!

One conversation late in the afternoon was with Jemma. From first glance she seemed as though she would be hard to talk with but God in His grace allowed it to be one of the easiest and simplest conversations. Jemma had some Christian background but nothing major.

What was most surprising was not that Jemma used the word, "repent" when talking about how she should respond to the gospel but that she actually had a correct definition of the word! When asked, "What do you think that word means," she responded. "To have a change of mind about sin and then you will trust in Christ".

The reason this is so surprising is that the team a few months back realised that what Australian's mean when they say the word "repent" is usually, "be a good person, stop sinning and ask for forgiveness". Since the team has started asking people what they mean when they use the word, this is the first person to give an accurate definition. For this reason we have stopped using the word and instead started explaining the idea other ways.

This conversation with Jemma was incredible, she comprehended the gospel, she was able to get the checking questions right first time and she was challenged to count the cost and to trust in Christ this very day!

The conversation following this was with Arli, an Indonesian man. The conversation was harder, he struggled to comprehend the gospel as first and more work had to be done to lead him to comprehend what was being said but when he did understand and was able to explain the gospel simply back he declared that he didn't want to trust in Jesus. He said that he was happy living his own way and didn't need the saviour. It was sad to see someone understand the predicament they are in, the reality of judgement but willing to say that they love sin too much to trust in Christ.

There were many people who weren't able to stay for the gospel as they had to head back to work or off with friends. This included Shane an Irish guy who'd never thought about it before, Alamir a lapsed Muslim who had very little idea about Christianity, Tracey who had to head off with her brother before she heard the good news and Jason said he was just going to risk it on the day of judgement.

Lastly was an exciting conversation with Oli, a local homeless man. Usually those on the street aren't willing to chat but Oli was. By God's grace, even though there was a strong hint of alcohol on his breath he came to comprehend the gospel! He said, "I have spent so many years visiting different churches and being served by them but this is the first time I have understood what Christianity is about". What an exciting comment from Oli, praise God that he has now comprehended the gospel!

Please be praying for all those who heard the law and gospel today that God would use the guilt shown by the law and the forgiveness provided by the gospel to draw people unto Himself that they may come and trust in Christ for their salvation!

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Please pray.  Pray for labourers for the harvest and for God to use us for his glory: the salvation of the lost, and the saving of lives.  As we were leaving our second Gospel + abortion outreach, we afresh had the realisation of how desperately we need God’s help in the battle to bring the Gospel to the lost.  In our own effort, we won’t achieve anything.

As we turned up, again the media were outside the hospital.  This time, sadly, it was because one of those injured in the mosque attack had died, bringing the toll to 51.  And again, we had no idea this had happened, and we were not planning our outreach for media attention.  But it was a poignant reminder of the sanctity of life.  Murder is wrong, and there is hope in the Gospel of Jesus.

So, as planned, we pulled out our new signs, and took up our positions.  There were four of us over the two hour outreach.

It again had a polarising effect: many in support, and many against.  Tracts were accepted, and conversations were had.  Andy had a wonderful opportunity for a follow up conversation from last week with someone who works in the hospital.

Today I was called judgemental, and a purveyor of hate speech, all this while holding the sign that says: “There is hope, we will help, talk to us.”  Ironically, this came from people who were judging and hating me.

An hour and a half into the outreach, all of a sudden, security staff started to appear.  There were at least six of them - it felt like they brought the army out (see pic).  I was nervous and started praying.  Finally, after they had all found positions, two of them approached from the side.

Thankfully, the spokesperson was great.  We had a friendly chat, he confirmed we were fine doing what we were doing, as long as we didn’t block any paths.

Eventually, the security staff dispersed, but one stayed.  At the end of the outreach, I thanked him for his protection - and he smiled.

But I think it shows that we are being noticed - which is encouraging.  If so few can get a reaction, what would happen if more Christians started standing up and joining the line?  In our weakness, God shows Himself strong.

If you are a Christian, PLEASE join us!  Required ability: standing with a sign.  This is something that families can get involved with.  The more sign holders we have, the more other Christians will be able to talk to people about the Gospel - our only hope for ending abortion.

After the Gospel + abortion outreach, we moved into the City for flip charting, and tract distribution.

And on the previous day, Thursday, we held our regular City and Eastgate outreaches.

I’m out of time to write about some of the interactions of those outreaches, but we encountered some strong opposition (see picture of man pointing), talked to a rugby player from South Africa, and (as always) had wonderful conversations at Eastgate: the highlights of which included multiple people realising that good works were not the way of salvation, but instead it's grace, through faith in Jesus.  And I had a wonderful follow up conversation with a guy I had talked to for “about an hour outside the hospital” (which I can’t remember) - praise God that people continue to be reached with the Gospel multiple times.

As always, may God be glorified through our feeble efforts!  Thanks to all who are supporting us.  I really mean it: thank you!

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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.
 

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On Tuesday at Woodridge a team of five made it out and God in His providence enabled many encouraging conversations to take place. Over the many conversations the team has had they have slowly become more efficient at articulating the gospel in a way that makes sense and is simple to understand. In each encounter the aim is not simply to get the gospel out of our mouths but to take the person being spoken to on a journey from where they currently are to a place where they understand what Jesus had to say. Although the team is not perfect it is very encouraging to see that more and more people, in the frame of a short conversation are understanding the gospel.

During the afternoon there were many conversations that took place but of the last five conversations (with seven people), five understood the gospel!

Firstly was a conversation with Nellem. He attends a local church around once a month with his family but thought it was goodness that gets someone into Heaven. Over the short conversation Nellem came to understand that anyone being judged on their life will not make it into Heaven as everyone is a sinner and God's entry requirement for Heaven is perfection. But Nellem then came to comprehend the simple gospel! He was able to not to copy back the phrase, "trust that Jesus has paid for you sin" but was able to answer questions that challenged his comprehension!

He was challenged to read John's gospel and to count the cost of trusting in Christ today!

Next was a short conversation with Brandi who did seem all with it and despite best efforts she didn't come to hear the gospel as she wanted to raise other topics. She was shown God's law and her guilt and was given a tract and encouraged to take a read as she ran off to the train.

Soon after Kiana was approached. From the way she was dressed it was assumed that she was a Muslim and it turns out that she isn't. Which was a good reminder not to assume. In the beginning of the conversation the law was briefly touched on but not as in depth as usual, which in some ways was a mistake but thankful God is gracious and there was a chance for her to be challenged by it at the end of the conversation.

Kiana was taken very smoothly through the gospel. Question by question, thought by thought she followed along, comprehending how it all fits together and at the end was able to answer checking questions correctly! She understood that one can be justified by faith in Christ alone! But when asked, "When will you trust in Jesus?" She answered, "I don't know if I need to, I'm not that bad," to which she was pointed out that we are that bad. She then said, "Well what have I done wrong?"

God's law was used to reveal sin and Kiana came to understand that today if she died and was given justice for how she'd lived she'd be sent to Hell for eternity but at the very same time, God's offer of forgiveness stands that she can receive through faith in Christ! She then popped out with a question about the deity of Christ which was partially answered but she had to leave before it could be fleshed out a little further.

Next Meredith was approached and she had a Christian background, in fact she'd attended a local Church for almost ten years and had little to no understanding of the gospel. But through the simple question and answer style communication for the first time Meredith comprehended the gospel of grace that sinners can be saved by faith in Christ alone and then out of gratefulness to God for saving them they will happily serve Him all their days!

Lastly three workers, Fitu, Mark and Levi came out of the train station and were stopped with the question, "What do you think will happen to you after you die?" with a mixture of responses, the law was used to reveal sin, the gospel was preached as the solution for sinners and when the checking questions were asked Fitu was on the money, he understood the gospel straight away! Mark was a bit slower but seemed to also understand and Levi struggled a bit. The guys ended up having to leave without too much discussion after that but Fitu continued the conversation with them as they left.

What a wonderful day of outreach where many people were spoken to and by God's mercy came to understand how someone can be made right before God. Please be praying for those who now understand the gospel that they will come to trust in Christ and receive forgiveness of sin and will as a result start attending a local church, reading their Bible and telling others of this kind Saviour!

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On Saturday night in Brisbane City, as with every other day of the year God in His providence provided those he wanted the team to speak with. Evangelism is hard work. It isn't that articulating the gospel is a feat that is overly strenuous (though some gospel conversations take more effort than others), it is that investing in and caring about someone's eternity takes effort. It makes a lot of sense that Christ needed time alone with the Father and often retreated to have quiet time, compassion for the lost takes energy.

This evening was filled with fewer conversations than normal but these were conversations that were invested in strongly. It wasn't that lengthy apologetics took place, or all the questions raised were flawlessly answered but that whilst attempting to lead those spoken to, toward an understanding of the gospel, a great burden was carried knowing the reality of their eternity without Christ.

The first conversation was with two young men who came up to the table being silly and mocking and they asked for a Bible but they ended up walking away with far more than they had bargained for, they left with the gospel. These two young men were being silly but their silliness was cut short as they heard the seriousness of their sin, their current eternal destination and the only offer of hope. They ended up leaving quite abruptly but not before they had heard what God had done to save sinners.

Next was a conversation with two men, one of whom was headed for prison in three days. Sadly though, these men in their pride were opposed to God's gospel. They were unwilling to hear of what Christ has done, they simply wanted to try and justify themselves by pretending they weren't guilty, arguing that there was no God, followed by arguing that they weren't that bad. What was so sad was that these two men didn't have a good reason to reject the gospel. They didn't know it, they didn't have information that disproved it, they simply were to hard hearted, too much in love with sin to acknowledge that they had a problem.

The last two conversations of the evening were very different though. Eban and Eugene were chatting to another team member, trying to argue about the origin of the universe and how it couldn't be created by God, when they posed an idea that he wasn't sure how to answer. But rest assured there is a very simple answer to proclaimed "intellectual" arguments against the existence of God, the law. A quick segway was given, "That's an interesting question you raise but let me ask you, do you think you've ever told a lie before?" following into a straight forward gospel presentation, where many questions were asked leading Eban and Eugene to not raise another single objection against Christianity but instead ended up seriously pondering the good news of what Christ has done. It was beautiful to watch God's law at work, it truly did silence their mouths and enable the gospel to do its work.

Lastly was a conversation with Paul and Mary, Germans who had a church background but were living however they wanted, were trusting in their goodness to get them to Heaven and actually were more hoping for reincarnation. Paul and Mary were shown God's law and very quickly realised the seriousness of the conversation. The saw the penalty they deserved and how grave their position was. And with some helpful questions, simple analogies and patience, they came to comprehend the simple gospel of justification by faith alone that will be followed by obedience to God.

They were thankful for the discussion and said that for the first time in a long time light had been shed on this important issue in their lives. They were encouraged to open up their Bibles and to read the Gospel of John and to consider what had been said that they may trust in God for salvation!

Praise God that He continues to use those who were once His enemies to be the proclaimers of His grace and that He delights to display His wisdom through the foolish gospel! Please be praying that God may be gracious to those who heard His law or gospel tonight!

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