Battle Log

Page 203

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We praise God for the outreach in Woodridge this afternoon. God brought along extra labourers, which was especially needed as there were plenty of people around. One person on the team noted that his 100 tracts that he brought all went out in about 10 minutes.

After the steady stream of people subsided a bit, it allowed us to get into conversations with people waiting nearby, including with a young man named Abu.

He said he is a Muslim and was hoping his goodness would save him. We talked about the fact we have sinned and since God is a just God, He cannot ignore our sin. He began to understand that he deserves hell and thus why he needs forgiveness of his sins that only Jesus can provide. He said he wanted to place his faith in Jesus and turn from his sin.

I encouraged him to make sure he counts the cost of following Jesus first, but also gave him a gospel of John and recommended a local church. Please pray for Abu.

We sow the seed, God is in charge of the results. To God alone be all the glory!

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It was another great night at Cavill Avenue Gold Coast last Friday night. Our wonderful God has supplied the blessing of committed workers willing to come and share the glorious Gospel! What a privilege! And we praise His Holy Name for we know that He has prepared hearts of the people and does all the work in their lives and ours. As we give ourselves to Him and share the message of Salvation in Jesus Name He is Glorified.

Before we began we gathered for prayer, our prayer was that the Lord prepare our hearts and to give us more thankfulness for His Mercy and Grace, also to help us to know and love Him more and to give us the words to speak to the people with encounter.

First up to preach Trevor brought the message that God is good in contrast of us...we are not. The message of who God is and who we are was explained, the words turn...trust...Jesus... were highlighted and the cross was the centre of the message and the love of Christ Jesus was clear for the people walking past or stopping to hear and see the solution to our sin problem.

One of our team members that preaches open air in Brisbane City came to the Gold Coast for the first time, he soon was in conversation with some young Muslims it wasn’t long after a older man joined in and he had a large group and was in conversation with them for some time. He then got up to preach and it was wonderful to hear him preaching scripture and declaring the fact that we must be born again.

This same team member had the group of Muslims gather very tight around him the group of young men grew more in numbers to the point of them taking the preacher and engaging again in a long discussion, we pray for all his efforts to explain the message of the only way to God through Jesus.

There were a lot of conversations with Muslims and Arabic Bibles and literature given out on the night. Lots of tracts and one on ones were happening and a good number of team members had opportunities to plant seeds of Gods Word to those who stopped and were asked the big questions of life...Why do we die? What happens when we die? Are you a good person? Will you be good enough for heaven? Why would God let you in to Heaven? All have answers that Jesus explains clearly through the instruction manual Gods Word the Bible.

All Glory to God.

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It was another busy arvo at Wellington point with the sun shining and plenty of people to share the gospel with again because of the Pokemon craze continuing the same as the previous fortnight. A good sized team of us met and prayed together before we got the outreach underway. 

Paul was with us and decided to check out the other side of the park with the ladies and discovered it was very busy around the Jetty area as well and started handing out tracts, most people were taking them and it wasn't long before one on ones were happening.

Glenda saw a lady sitting on the bench seat with a couple of little ones, she could see us handing out tracts and having conversations, when she was approached and offered a tract she said she had received one a few weeks ago and she did not like what she read and wasn't interested in talking. 

On asking her that we would like to hear from her so we can have feedback as we talk to a lot of people and it would be helpful for us if she could let us know what she disagreed with, she then said she was a Christian but her Church doesn’t use the language that we have used in our tracts. Glenda asked her what it was and explained that everything that is on the tracts comes from God's Word; it is not what we have made up from our thinking, it is found in the Bible. Then this lady said that at her church they don't use the word 'judgement', they use the word 'acceptance'. She then said that it was not good for her children to have read the words we use.

So as they chatted the lady was more open to listening as Glenda reasoned with her about how we can explain to the children in a way they can understand. When Glenda quoted John 3:16 the kids were saying the verse along with her. She encouraged the mum to read to the end of the  passage and see what God’s Word is saying in context.

Then Glenda gave the analogy of going to the doctor and him giving you medication and not telling you what it is for. You would not want to take the medication because you don’t think you need it, and you wouldn't appreciate the doctor offering you it either! But if he explains about the disease and all the symptoms you have and how this medication will cure you, that’s when you will take the medication and be thankful that you know about it and have a cure. That is how it is when we share about God’s Judgement, which is the bad news, then the good news is understood and appreciated.

Glenda then went on to explain how we have all broken God’s law and every time we do the wrong thing there is a consequence. For example, if we grow up and we drive a car and get caught for speeding we are breaking the law of the land. The police write us a ticket and we have to pay the fine and if we don’t pay the fine we would be brought before a Judge and there are consequences because we broke the Law. Similarly when we break God’s Holy Law, but so very much more serious is the consequence there must be a perfect life and perfect blood shed for the payment of sin. The Bible says the only way for our fine to be paid is through the perfect work of Jesus! We broke God’s Law and deserve punishment but God is so kind He sent us Jesus to save us! This is the good news!

At this stage there was so much interest in one of the young boys he was nodding his head and hearing the good news and his mum was allowing Glenda to engage with him she was hearing everything too, praise God. Then the little boy asked her where did God come from and she was able to explain to him that God is not like us He does not have a beginning or end. We are born and we die. God is Spirit and He has always been there and always will, He is Eternal! God offers Eternal life!

Glenda asked him if he has heard that we must be born again. He said no. So she encouraged him that Jesus said we need a new heart so His Spirit can be with us and help us to know God and to love Him and be ready for heaven. This little boy was so eager, Glenda then asked if he has a bible. His sister said no, but he quickly said, "Yes we have". This was an amazing result and also because later when Lee-Anne approached the mother and children, they all took tracts from her. Wow praise our wonderful Lord for changing this whole encounter around like that!

While this was happening Railee got to encourage the work of evangelism to a believer all the way from Germany. He is travelling around Australia with his wife. And Lee-Anne was talking with a young couple and challenged them of the Bible message and that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and not of works, but it is through the work of Jesus - His life, death and resurrection.
 
All Glory to God for He prepares the hearts, we are privileged in being able to share in the joy of His work!

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Romford was busy today with buskers and shoppers so Chuck and I (the only team members present) went to the "green door", as we can preach without hindering shop fronts or pedestrians.  After we prayed, I spoke from Mark 7 while Chuck handed out tracts, then we swapped.  

While Chuck spoke, I had a number of different people chat to me about the tracts I was handing out.  I asked a man who was a buddhist some tough questions about absolutes in morality and he really didn't want to engage the conversation or justify his position.  I met a pantheistic type of lady who told me I was wrong to make people fearful of hell and that god is in all of us etc.  Her self righteousness was couched deep in a quasi humility.  She did not like the idea of being branded a sinner in violation of 
Gods law and she also walked off, after not wishing to deal with tough questions on absolutes.  The last person I spoke to was a lady who had a tough upbringing, and while initially trying to deny breaking laws like lying and thieving, she succumbed to not honoring God with heart, soul and mind, as the first and greatest commandment.  She listened to the Gospel, thanked me and took tracts.  SDG!!

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We were excited as we approached Wellington point Sunday arvo to see so many car’s parked for about a kilometer from where we meet for prayer before sharing the gospel with all these people enjoying another beautiful day our Lord has given us. After we prayed for our Lord to use us and give us boldness to speak the truth seasoned with grace, we started handing out our gospel tracts.

We shortly realised why so many people were down here for very one had their faces practically glued to their mobile phones chasing Pokemon!! Oh boy!! But we praised God for the opportunity for more tracts to go out and more conversations. I handed Steve a tract and started talking with him and found out that he grew up in a Christian home but has his own view of who God is.

I reasoned with him from scripture to give him a clearer and more fuller picture of God, not only His loving kindness, mercy, grace and patience but His perfect holiness and wrath upon sinful mankind who reject Him and one day will face His judgement if they die in their sin. I had to labour on sin for a while so hopefully Steve could understand God’s grace in a fuller way.The rest of the team had great chats with various people. Had a good day as usual.

May our God receive all the Glory.

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It was another great night at Cavill Avenue Gold Coast on Friday night. Our wonderful God has supplied the blessing of committed workers willing to come and share the glorious Gospel! What a privilege! And we praise His Holy Name for we know that He has prepared hearts of the people and does all the work in their lives and ours.  As we give ourselves to Him and share the message of Salvation in Jesus Name He is Glorified. 

Before we began we gathered for prayer, our prayer was that the Lord prepare our hearts and to give us more thankfulness for His Mercy and Grace, also to help us to know and love Him more and to give us the words to speak to the people with encounter.

First up to preach Trevor brought the message that God is good in contrast of us...we are not. The message of who God is and who we are was explained, the words turn...trust...Jesus... were highlighted and the cross was the centre of the message and the love of Christ Jesus was clear for the people walking past or stopping to hear and see the solution to our sin problem.

One of our team members that preaches open air in Brisbane City came to the Gold Coast for the first time, he soon was in conversation with some young Muslims it wasn’t long after a older man joined in and he had a large group and was in conversation with them for some time. He then got up to preach and it was wonderful to hear him preaching scripture and declaring the fact that we must be born again.

This same team member had the group of Muslims gather very tight around him the group of young men grew more in numbers to the point of them taking the preacher and engaging again in a long discussion, we pray for all his efforts to explain the message of the only way to God through Jesus.

There were a lot of conversations with Muslims and Arabic Bibles and literature given out on the night. Lots of tracts and one on ones were happening and a good number of team members had opportunities to plant seeds of Gods Word to those who stopped and were asked the big questions of life...Why do we die?  What happens when we die? Are you a good person? Will you be good enough for heaven? Why would God let you in to Heaven? All have answers that  Jesus explains clearly through the instruction manual Gods Word the Bible. 

All Glory to God.

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It was great to see the gospel go out to many at Woodridge on Tuesday. We had good number of conversations about Christ, with even groups of people at a time.

Please pray for all those who heard the message or took a gospel tract, including a man named James. As one of the team began speaking to him, he said right from the start that he thought he would go to hell, because he gets drunk and does all sorts of bad things. He already knew he wasn't good enough to be let into heaven.

I asked James if that concerns him, and he said it didn't because "I've got 60 more years to mend my ways." So I gave him an analogy of a courtroom with a criminal standing before a judge and the criminal says, "Judge, I did that crime, but I'm going to start mending my ways, so please let me go." I asked him whether that would work. He said, "Of course not." I said, "Same thing in the sight of God. Even if we mend our ways, it does not erase the history of our sins, since God is a just God."

This then led onto explaining the message of grace, which seemed to be such a foreign concept to him, and so it took quite a while before he understood it. I explained how our forgiveness is only by Jesus taking the punishment for our sins, thereby satisfying God's justice on our behalf, and how we need to repent and believe that Jesus has done that for us.

James said he's not prepared to turn from his sins because he loves them. I asked, "What good is enjoying the momentary pleasures of sin if you end up in a place of pain and suffering forever afterwards? It's like choosing to have a cup of pleasure in exchange for an ocean of pain. Is that worth it?" He said, "When you put it that way, no it doesn't. I am going to have to really think about this."

To God be the glory!

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It was a wonderful afternoon of outreach at Sunnybank. The weather was perfect, so there were quite a number of people walking around.

As I was handing out tracts, an elderly man with Parkinson's disease stopped. He said he was given a tract last week, and that he'd like to talk about it. He told me he attends a local church (which is known for being extremely liberal), and he trusts that he'll go to Heaven because God is all-loving.

I asked the man to imagine a scenario, I said, "Imagine that locally there is a good judge who is known as being loving. When a criminal comes before the court, do you think that the judge's love would cause him to let the criminal go, or would it force him to give justice?"

The man said, "Well, if he is loving, he would have to see that justice is done." I agreed, and pointed out that God is a just judge, and that because He is loving, He won't allow sin to go unpunished. The penny dropped for this elderly gentleman. He understood that the love of God was the guarantee that justice would occur. He then said to me, "But, isn't there something about a cross forgiving us?" With that opening I was able to share the message of Jesus with him. The man, even though he was well advanced in years, seemed to be shocked at this message. He told me that he would start reading his Bible so that he could know more about God.

Please pray for that man, and also for the many other people we spoke today.

SDG!

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Thank-you to all those who prayed for Tuesday afternoon's outreach in Woodridge. A group of five of us were able to hand out many tracts and engage in some wonderful gospel conversations.

Over the past couple of weeks I've noticed that there has been an increase of people making their way to the Free Bible and Literature table. Today, a number of booklets and many New Testaments were taken. We pray that the Lord would use this simple form of witness to reach the community for Jesus.

SDG!

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Thank-you to all those who prayed for the outreach Saturday night in Brisbane. The night for some reason was extremely busy. Normally, in winter the Queen Street Mall is quieter, but tonight there were people everywhere. As a result many people were spoken to about Christ.

I had the honour of preaching in the open-air using the sketchboard and chemical cross. I spoke on the "Way to Heaven" and looked at three wrong ways that people trust in, and then I spoke about the one right way. The Lord was pleased to bring a good size crowd in to listen. I also noticed that the crowd was really engaging with what I was doing on the board, often they would call out and give the answer to what I was painting.

After my open-air, it was truly amazing to see people throughout our area of the mall being spoken to in one to one conversations. Every which way I looked, there were Christians sharing the love of Christ to people who may never come to church.

What was also a huge encouragement was seeing so many people making their way to the Free Bible and Literature Table. Quite a number of resources were given out.

We also had two other preachers share from God's Word tonight. The Lord seemed to be at work on the hearts of many people. Please pray for all those we encountered tonight. May the Lord bring them into the truth.

SDG!

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