Battle Log

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On Tuesday afternoon at Woodridge the team of five took the time to preach Christ to those who are perishing. The afternoon was quieter than usual, most likely because of the threatening clouds but there was still enough foot traffic to be able to share the gospel with people continually over the afternoon.

It is always sad when the team runs into professing Christians who are trusting in their goodness to gain them entrance into Heaven. This was the case with Eileen who stopped by early in the afternoon. She was trying really hard to show that she was good enough to get into Heaven but was shown God's law clearly as well as a few other things the Bible has to say about human attempts at gaining God's favour. She was shown her inability and was pointed to Christ's ability to save. The gospel and its response was explained but she didn't seem to understand it and her bus arrived. She took a tract and was encouraged to read it.

Next was a conversation with Ally, who was surprisingly open. She had a few ideas of her own but admitted that it was mostly guesses and she really wasn't sure about it all. She was shown God's law and came to understand that sinners deserve Hell and as the questions about Easter weekend and its relevance to Christianity were raised her train arrived and she had to run off. She too took a tract.

An exciting conversation was had with Daniel who once was a JW and had left but for the first time came to understand the gospel and was challenged to trust Christ. He had struggled with religion ever since he had left the JW organisation but seemed positive towards the gospel and said he would have to consider it. The importance of not just putting it off was stressed as none of us know if we have tomorrow. Dan was able to explain back how someone can be forgiven and therefore was encouraged to think about it today.

Among other conversations there was a young man who understood the gospel already and had just recently moved to the area and was encouraged to find a local Church. There was a man who was interested in hearing the gospel so waited till the very last moment before running to his train and a young man who struggled to comprehend the gospel but was happy to take a tract.

The last conversation of the afternoon though was with Mediana. She thought she was good enough to get to Heaven but by the law saw that she had failed and saw the bad news that humanity deserves Hell. She said, "Oh that means we're all headed for Hell," with sadness on her face. The response was given, "Yes, we are. Do you know what God has done so that we don't have to go there?" She wasn't sure but her uber arrived so she had to run off but she took a tract and said she'd read it.

Please be praying for those who heard the bad or good news this afternoon that they would come to Christ, the gracious King, who offers forgiveness purchased by his own life!

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On Easter Monday a team of 32 people took their God given "day-off" to declare who God is and what He has done to the people gathered at the Redlands Easter Family Festival!

Some we spoke with professed a desire to trust in Christ, and so it was a day where our hearts were filled with rejoicing! If you're excited by this video, come along to an outreach this week: https://www.operation513.com/street-evangelism-teams/

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This past Saturday night was wet and this caused the square to be far quieter than usual but God provided people to speak with quite consistently over the course of the night.

You can hear Andrew sharing about a conversation he had at the beginning of the night with a man who actually was living a few streets from where he did before he moved to Queensland a little over 12months ago. This meant he was easily about to recommend a local Church when this man responded positively.

Also find encouragement in a coversation Ryan had with a young man who had started going to Church and had done an introducing God course but thought that he was going to Heaven because of his Church attendance.

Please be praying for both of these conversations that God would draw these men unto Himself and cause them to walk in His ways!

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The seagulls wanted hot cross buns... but they didn't get any! :) The Easter Monday outreach seemed to go well. Another 500 hot cross bun halves went out... plus the bread of life: Jesus - shared in Easter tracts.

I focused on flip chart conversations while other Christians watched to get a feel for sharing the Gospel on the streets.

I had two conversations, the first one was short, and allowed the Christians watching to get a good overview of a Gospel conversation.  The second one was an epic!  It tested my conversational and apologetic skills, while having to wrestle with illogical responses of a person resisting the obvious.  It was a wonderful conversation that ended well, but that had drained all my energy.

A brief report from Andy revealed the other team had some good Gospel conversations as well.

Like on Saturday, I was very encouraged to see so many Christians getting involved. We even had a family we haven't met before come join us - so blessed!

Thanks to all involved - you did an awesome job! Keep it up :)

After some rest on Tuesday, Wednesday was the usual marathon of 7 hours of outreach, including letterbox dropping, an outreach to the city, and an outreach outside the hospital.

I was again blessed with follow up conversations.

One was with the young man I mentioned a month or so ago, whose baby daughter had major complications after birth.  The good news, is his daughter is well!  He showed me some pictures.  He said he had read some of the Bible I had given him, starting at the spot I had suggested.  And he took one of the tracts I was handing out today (Jesus Shows Us God).

But the highlight conversation was a follow up with a guy who revealed some more information about himself, which allowed me to minister more specifically to him.  It turns out he had been involved with churches in the past, but had pulled away - seemingly due to something to do with suffering and why God allows it.  He used an analogy where his daughter had a thorn in her finger causing her pain, and how cruel would he be as a father not to pull it out.  He was clearly pointing at God being cruel for not dealing with the thorns in our sides.  So I responded with scripture:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me

2 Corinthians 12:7–9 ESV

But even though Paul understood why his thorn was not taken away.  I explained that we don’t always get to know why God allows suffering to come our way.  But that we need to trust Him no matter what, like: Job, Joseph, and Jesus.  Like Job, our attitude should be:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 

Job 1:21 ESV

In fact, believers are promised suffering:

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV

He made reference to the murders in the Mosque a month ago.  But I made it clear that God did not do the killing, but the man who did it was responsible.  And God will ultimately give perfect justice (for all), but he is patiently holding off his justice so that people can receive mercy and grace.

We discussed other things as well.  I was really blessed to be able to call him to repentance and faith once again.  God willing, I’ll have more opportunities to talk to him.
 

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On Good Friday the team, rejoicing in the gospel, took the opportunity to have an extended outreach on the Gold Coast. Instead of the usual three hours, it lasted over six!

During this time, many heard the gospel and God graciously drew some to Himself! 

You can hear Jack share about the afternoon generally and an exciting conversation he had with a Chilean lady.

You can hear Matt rejoicing in a conversation he had with a young man named James, who came to understand the gospel!

And take some encouragement from Fynn as he shares a simple explanation as to why doing good deeds will not take away the history of one's sin!

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On Thursday afternoon at Sunnybank the team were on fire! With twelve members coming out over the course of the afternoon, it was the equal biggest team at that location, even with a few regulars away! It is exciting to see God raising up labourers to preach His glorious gospel!

The first conversation of the afternoon was a funny one, a man named Zac who at first was a little hesitant began to talk. He said the issue was that he was sure that nothing in this world was black and white and therefore it can't be that simple. Ironically, as was pointed out, he was "black and white" about nothing being "black and white". He saw the law and was challenged by God's hatred of his sin but his bus arrived before the conversation could go too much further.

The constant challenge that is taught by outreach locations like Sunnybank is the importance of simple explanations and a serious commitment to strive to get to the gospel. In a scenario when you have less than ten minutes to take someone with little to no knowledge of Christianity to understand the essentials of the faith, it takes great discipline to not try and answer every question or objection raised but to be wise in what to say, what questions to ask and what to point out so that each person can understand what God has said is the way to Heaven.

Seneha, Kay, Rhianna and Charlotte all heard why we know there is a God, why that matters for people like us, the trouble our sin has placed us in and therefore that God will be our only hope. Sadly, as easy as it is as a Christian to articulate that, "Jesus has died to save sinners", people outside Christendom don't understand what that means or how it is good news. It isn't until time is taken to show what it all means that people come to comprehend the beauty of the gospel. Sadly in these four conversations, they each heard very briefly of the good news but had to hop on their respective buses with some sentences bouncing around in their head and a gospel tract.

Please be praying that those who heard part of the message would come to know what God has done, either by reading the tract and understanding it, talking to a Christian in their life or by reading a Bible and understanding what God has said! Praise God that although we may not get to complete our "plans" that He is in control of all!

Lastly was a conversation with an Asian gentleman named Johnson who was scared to mention that he was a Christian. When he finally did mention it, it was clear that he knew the gospel and was just ashamed of Christ. This was a different conversation than usual as he seemed even to be trusting in Christ but just had a moment when he failed to be a good witness. Johnson was encouraged that God is in control and that as Christians we should never be ashamed of who our God is. Rather, His love for us should leave us willing to suffer anything for His name's sake!

Please be praying that Johnson would consider the challenge he was given and that he would be willing to trust in Christ, not just for salvation but as in control and Lord over every scenario. Even more so, that he would be willing to speak openly of Christ of his own accord, not just when another asks! May you too be willing to do so as well!

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On Wednesday in Brisbane City, in the lead up to Easter, there was a good sized team out, reminding people of the weekend that was coming and explaining why it is so central and crucially important for every person on the face of this planet.

The day had some exciting responses to the gospel but predominant theme was actually rebellion. Not just that people didn't want to talk or hear. But five people, came to understand the gospel and chose to defiantly reject Christ and His offer of forgiveness. In the theme of Easter, people were being incredulous. It wasn't that there was a lack of evidence, or not enough reason to believe, rather they had decided they did not want to believe.

First was with Margaret a Russian Orthodox, who saw that her goodness and attempts to honour God would not be enough on the day of judgement and that she would be found guilty. In response she asked what the solution was and when explained that it was that God purchases us from judgement by paying the debt Himself she was interested to hear more but when she heard that it was received by faith, not a result of works she rejected it. She said, she must do something to receive it.

Next was Kane. A simple gospel presentation was given and Kane was able to get the checking questions right. He understood what God has said in His word the Bible but at the end of it all Kane said, "I think I will just continue to trust myself". It was pointed out to Kane, the foolishness of his decision and he was strongly warned of the consequences of his choice, that he could be in Hell this very night. Interestingly during this conversation with Kane, two ladies sitting nearby who were at first listening into the conversation left in frustration because they didn't want to have to listen.

This was followed by a conversation with Jordan, who was harder at first than the previous two and was quite consistent in his attempts to escape God's judgement with his arguments. Later trying to justify his sin as not that bad. In the end he heard the gospel, he understood what God had said about sin and salvation and was able to comprehend it and repeat back the way of salvation but he declared that he would not believe.

The same thing happened with Ash a Nepalese man who had Buddhist leanings and saw how helpless he was in the system of Buddhism to deal with sin and guilt. In the end of it all though he declared that he really didn't want to have to live God's way, rather that he was content with his own ideas, his own standards and would continue living how he wanted to until he thought there was a need to change.

Lastly Simmo was in a similar boat. He was the hardest to keep on tract as he had many different ideas and arguments to try and distract from his guilt and God's offer of salvation but in the end despite him rejecting it he walked away knowing what God has done to save sinners and how he, a sinner, could be forgiven.

But after saying all this, today was not a failure. Not even because there were others who responded positively to the gospel but simply because God is in control. As the team we taught people who God is, what He has said about sin and the offer of forgiveness that He gives to those who will accept His terms of peace and God will do whatever He wills with this message that is now on their hearts. So may you pray for these five people that they will not continue to reject the gospel but they will dwell on the beauty of God's love and turn to Him for salvation, that this Easter they may be rejoicing in Him as their King!

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On Saturday it was a beautiful Easter weekend with many people out to enjoy the sun up on the Hoe and many beaches around Plymouth. The City Centre was very busy, and Simon, Laurie and I had many good conversations, particularly with a Romanian lady and he friend called Luminata and Dan. She was very insightful and asked some really good questions while going through the flip chart good person test with her, and she took a Bible and some tracts and said she would think about what we talked about and what good Friday and Easter Sunday truly meant.

Laurie spoke with a man that said he had come out of the Mormon church a while ago, but was sort of in limbo as to what to do now or what Church to attend as was weary of everything that had happened to him. Laurie managed to share the truth of Christianity with him and the gospel that assures our salvation rather than the false message Joseph Smith taught, and he gladly took a Bible and some tracts and we pointed him towards some good churches he could attend.

I spoke with two two young builders that walked past that were seemingly quite shocked as God and their eternity were the last things on their mind on such a sunny Saturday, but they understood and took tracts and had a firm handshake afterwards which was good. A friendly young man called Casper stopped to look at the intelligence test, and he said he had done really well at Math's when at school and had gotten all A's, but was quite embarrassed when he got a few of the questions wrong! 

I preached about the magician and escape artist Harry Houdini and his death defying stunts and his interest in the afterlife and trying to communicate with his wife after death, and I explained how Jesus was the ultimate proof there was life after death due to his literal death and resurrection with no other explanations or excuses people could make apart from the fact that he was fully man and fully God and took the punishment of sin upon himself and verified his message by raising himself from the dead.

Simon spoke with lots of people too and preached, and at the end Laurie engaged with a Muslim couple that walked past. This was very interesting and we all spoke with them for around 20 minutes, the wife seemingly very interested in what we had to say and eagerly reading the tracts we had given her, while the husband was quite liberal in saying the Koran does not teach violence against Christians and Jews and we were to have peace together because we all worshipped the same God. This led to some dialogue as to the trinity and how as a Muslim he had assurance he was going to heaven when he died. The man appeared to think he had forgiveness from Allah and knew he would go to Heaven- he had memorized the Koran and just thought Allah would forgive people who repent, but we all told him that without a sacrifice to pay for them he was still in his sins, and why Christianity offered the only way of salvation for everyone. He said he would come and speak to us again which was good, but we pray his wife particularly searches the scriptures in what she read and we can meet with them again to chat and share the gospel with them.

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Saturday saw the first of two Easter Hot Cross Bun and Gospel Tract outreaches of the long weekend.  These outreaches are designed to be very easy for Christians to be introduced to sharing the Gospel on the street.  People love getting free hot cross buns and are more than happy to take a tract along with it.

From that regard, the outreach was a wonderful success.  Many Christians took the opportunity to get involved and share the law and the wonderful Gospel of God’s grace.

500 hot cross bun halves were given away, with nearly the same amount of tracts.

Flip charts were also set up, and many Gospel conversations were had.

Sunday was wet (again), but it wasn’t raining when we went out in the afternoon.  The shops were closed for Easter, but lots of people were in Cathedral Square and the outreach was filled with Gospel conversations.

Greg had a wonderful conversation with a young couple who gladly took a Gospel booklet.

And as I was in the middle of a conversation with four teens, another group of teens walked past, and one of them called out: “Hey, there’s that guy who had talked to us outside my house”.  I recognised two of them as guys I had approached while I was letterbox dropping just two days prior (in a suburb on the outskirts of Christchurch) and had briefly shared with them!

Praying that more labourers for the harvest would get involved and that the canvassing of this city with the Gospel would continue.  All to the glory of God.
 

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Operation 513 was in Stratford for outreach this afternoon. Again it was heaving with people on a warm, sunny Saturday.  There was an opportunity for amplified street preaching, so I took advantage of it and preached for an hour.  I emphasized the importance of the resurrection and cited many verses from Romans 5, Ephesians 2 and Psalm 103.  â€‹Arnell from the Philippines waited for me to finish before he started preaching himself.  The police past by once and allowed amplified street preaching today.  Praise God for that.  

Pastor Ben Jones from Fryerns Baptist and his son Harry joined me at 2 PM and handed out tracts. Jacob came later and had many conversations.  I had a long conversation with Mark the JW.  He openly said that he is not born again and it didn't bother him one bit.  Although he did claim to have the Holy Spirit.  Jacob and I also locked horns with Samir again as he handed out his literature.  Jacob had a number of conversations doing the 1-on-1 evangelism that he loves.  He asks that you pray for Adrian and Michael, to men with whom he had lengthy conversions.

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