Battle Log

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Nice sunshine in Christchurch over the weekend.  It was nice to be back in the city on Saturday.

I set up near the bridge of remembrance and had a lovely time greeting people, handing out tracts, and getting into conversations!

Three highlights:

• An older atheistic gentleman stopped to watch the busker performing next to me, and we fell into a lovely chat where he heard the arguments of the other side for a change.  It was encouraging watching him consume the information I was giving him.
• An elderly couple who had Christian relatives, but were deeply resistant to the gospel.  At one point, the lady admitted that she wanted to live her life her way - she wanted to follow her own truth - she would be judged by her own standard.  I kept coming back to the front page of the flip chart and pointing out the various people, like Hitler, who followed their own “truth”.  In the face of refuted logic, she doubled down.
• A wonderful conversation with a pro-lifer who had encouraged us while we were taking heat during recent gospel + abortion outreaches.  I was able to explain why people reject reason and embrace absurdity - a deep love for sin.  And why only the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  He went through the flip chart with me.

Later, I decided to head to Cathedral Square and ended up having some interesting walk up gospel conversations there.  The last one was very encouraging - the gospel penny dropped for him, and he said, “oh, that makes sense”.

On Sunday, Andy joined me for a couple of hours of outreach in the city.  Andy doesn’t really use the flip chart or tracts any more.  He has become pretty successful at getting people to stop with a confident question and getting into conversations from there.

My highlight conversation of the afternoon was fascinating.  I was talking to a guy who had become a Christian a couple of years ago, when a girl stopped abruptly in front of the flip chart and just stared at it.  The Christian understood when I shifted my attention to her - he moved on.  She was keen to give the flip chart a go, and was very engaged, so I was able to slow down and take her all the way through all the pages.  She had no religious background and seemed to be a pretty clean slate following the logic through, coming to understand the gospel - the checking questions confirming.  She agreed that she would want to accept the gift of Jesus.  So I moved to the final page, which gets people to consider the cost (in this life) of the gift (eternal life).

She said the man should forsake (her word) his precious backpack to accept the parachute.  I explained that it would be the same for us considering the gospel, we will forsake the precious but wrong things of this life to accept the gift of eternal life found in Jesus.  She didn’t seem to grasp it, so I gave an example.

Now she seemed to understand - and instantly became resistant.  She said, “oh, I don’t want someone else to take my punishment, I’d rather be judged for my own wrongs.” (she had reverted to thinking she would be good enough).  But I re-explained why that wouldn’t work out well.  She then said it wasn’t fair for Jesus to take her punishment - she wouldn’t want to let that happen.  But I used an analogy to explain why that didn’t make sense either.

But there was no swaying her.  She reluctantly accepted a tract - “in case you change your mind” - then left.  I was amazed.  I have no idea what she was thinking, but the cost was obviously too high for her.

Later, Andy and I were in Cathedral Square and she came past.  She beelined away from me and looked at me with disgust. :(

Our job is to share the gospel, it’s God’s job is to convert.  I leave her in His hands.
 

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Thursday, due to the weather, I spent the whole day in online outreach instead of heading to the bus stops.

In the morning session the stand out conversation was with a guy who had more melanin in his skin than me.  He had obviously had Christian instruction in his life, because he had an understanding of some concepts, but he was completely blind to the gospel and he was resistant to it.  He was open to talk though, and so I laboured with him for a long time.  He had received some philosophical indoctrination that caused him to keep going back to “before God and Jesus…”.  I had to keep trying to remind him how we know there was nothing before the true God.  He would struggle, and then revert back.  At one point he started talking about evolution, and how african’s have 100% human DNA, and others, like europeans have less than that (something in the 90’s).  I was shocked - here is the root of racism!  I pointed it out to him.  And I said, all people are 100% human, because we are made in the image of God.  For this reason, we all have value.  We parted on good terms.

From the afternoon session, I will mention three conversations.

The first brought me to tears afterwards.  I was connected to a mildly curious lady, who started getting more and more engaged.  She heard clear and logical gospel reasoning, and she started asking questions.  Then she started crying, and she opened up about some very painful issues from her life.  I had the privilege of ministering hope to her.  At the end of the conversation, she asked me to pray for her, which I gladly did.  I then prayed for her more after the conversation ended, and broke down in tears myself.  Oh, what a scourge sin is - oh how wonderful the balm of the gospel.  Oh, Lord, have mercy.  May she place her trust in you alone Jesus for the forgiveness of her sin.

Later, I was connected to a lady from Brazil.  She too started hearing clear and logical gospel reasoning, she became engaged, and started asking questions.  Then her phone rang.  She answered it, and then came back to me and said, “wait five minutes, ok?”.  She then went out the door.  She had to do something but didn’t want the conversation to end, so I decided to wait.  Sure enough, she came back and said, “one more minute!”.  I smiled as she headed out again.  Within a minute she was back and ready to continue the conversation!  We continued to talk, but she seemed to get to a point where she was overloaded, and needed time to process what she was hearing.  She had more questions, but now wasn’t the time.  I gave her a link to needGod.net where she could ask more questions if she wanted to.  It was a wonderful chat.

The final conversation I’ll mention was with a girl who only wanted to type her responses (fine with me), and she didn’t show her face (I’m pretty sure it was a girl).  She was very open, and seemed to come to grasp the gospel, going from thinking “just be a good person and do good things” would get her to heaven, to “have trust in Jesus; [who] died for my sins”.  Some of her other comments: “yeah i’m actually not as stressed”, “thank you so much for telling me this :))”, and “i’m literally so thankful that you were the person i found and not some scary naked dude”.

The gospel + abortion outreach was peacful and wonderful.  Read about it here.

We then moved to Cathedral Square.  Marty preached, there was a good crowd listening.  There were a lot of other Christains around engaging people with the gospel.  I had three wonderful one to one conversations.  The highlight was one with a guy who was drunk and stoned.  In spite of his condition, the hope of the gospel seemed to be having an effect - he seemed deeply impacted.  I gave him two types of tracts, and I told him to put them in his pocket and ready them when he had a clear head.

A team of us then headed towards Cashel Mall.  Before we had even made it there, we had gospel conversations with four individuals!

We then spent a busy couple of hours bringing the hope of the mercy of God to people.  It was great to have Graham with us again.  He had been watching the Operation 513 online evangelism via You Tube, and was able to use the tips he had been learning to great effect in his walk up conversations.

I finished the day of outreach with a couple more hours of online evangelism in the evening.  The highlight conversation was with two guys who were extremely slow at grasping basic concepts.  I was tired from a long day, and I wanted to give up.  But I didn’t.  Jesus didn’t just die for those that are sharp in mind.  The gospel makes it possible for anyone to be made right with God.  So I laboured with them, as they were open to it.  It took time, but they seemed to come to grasp the gospel intellectually.  Yet only God can change hearts, may there new found understanding of the gospel, turn to the joy of salvation.

God, thank you for all you do.  Thank you for life, thank you that you died for us to give us the gift of eternal life!  May you receive the reward of your suffering.  Save people for your glory Lord.  Amen.

 

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A wonderful couple of days of outreach in Christchurch (NZ).  And I had an exciting opportunity to share the gospel outside my usual routine.

I had just started eating dinner with my family when the doorbell rang.  That doesn’t normally happen, so I went to answer it and it was a guy who wanted to do a survey!  Praise God, no easier way to get a gospel conversation started.  I agreed to do the survey, and his first question was: “what is your occupation?”.  I answered: “I’m an evangelist”.  He responded with, “oh, ok”.  Then he paused and asked, “This is not a question on the survey, but, what is an evangelist?”  I smiled, and responded with, “I tell people about Jesus.”  He then asked, “How do you go about that?”  So I said, “I walk up to people and I ask them ‘excuse me, I’ve got a question for you, it’s a deep question, what do you think happens after life?’”  I then added, “If you know there is a hell, and Jesus made a way for us to go to heaven - it’s the most important thing you can tell anyone.”  He seemed fascinated.

He completed the survey - he was trying to sell insurance.  When he was done, I asked him, “so, what do you think happens afterlife?”  He was glad I had asked, because his curiosity was piqued.  And so I got to share the law and the gospel with him!  Although it was quicker than I like because: a) he was working and needed to move on, and b) it was freezing cold outside!  I had a tract in my wallet and passed it to him - he thanked me.  The whole exchange took no longer than five minutes.  Are you ready to share the gospel at a moment’s notice?

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
- 1 Pe 3:15 ESV

A great way to get prepared is to buy a mini flip chart (NZ or AU) and practice in your family or personal devotion times.  Or try some online evangelism with some strangers, but you’ll need to put in some precautions first, check out how.

Earlier in the day I was in Cathedral Square.  But before I got there, I had a wonderful opportunity to approach a guy on Colombo street who had never really thought about what happens after life, but came to understand why it’s important to do so.  The Building / Builder; Universe / Universe Maker analogy made him smile with understanding and he became engaged to hear the law and the gospel.  He was sharp, and checking questions confirmed he was understanding.

In Cathedral Square I had pretty much non stop opportunities to talk with people.  Three guys who were resistant and doubled down when hearing the Building / Builder; Universe / Universe Maker analogy.  There was a guy who recognised me and said he was half a Christian!  We had a wonderful conversation where it became evident he wasn’t a Christain at all and we wrestled through some logic for what a Christian is and why he should become one.

But the highlight conversation was with a guy who had converted to Buddhism about four weeks ago.  He heard the law and the gospel, and quickly came to grasp it.  He said there was nothing stopping him from trusting Jesus paid his hell fine today - even after I got him to think through the cost, including letting go of Buddhism.  He said he would study the tract I give him (pictured).

After this, I headed home and joined the Aussie team for some online outreach.  I had a string of great conversations:

• 2 Catholics who came to understand the gospel.  One of them had an “ah ha” moment.

 

• A stubborn intellectual - didn’t make any progress.

 

• A lovely lady who was scared I was going to tell her she was going to hell, but came to understand the gospel instead.  There was nothing stopping her from trusting.  I pointed her to the Bible, a local church, and needGod.net.

 

• A young man, very open hearted, I couldn't hear him (he responded by typing), but heard the gospel, and was also pointed to a Bible and a local church.

 

• A guy from LA who had tragically seen his Dad’s suicide! :(  He said there was no way of knowing if there was an after life, and resisted when he heard the logic.  But his real issue was that he didn’t like God.  He said, “If I was God, I wouldn’t have done it this way”.  After hearing him say that, I was pretty direct with him - but he appreciated it.  He heard the gospel.  And he appreciated the conversation - he thanked me, and encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.

Tuesday I was online before heading to Riccarton.

The highlight conversation online was with a young Catholic guy, sharp, but slow to respond.  He was trusting his good deeds to get him to heaven before the conversation, but now understands that it's only trusting Jesus died on the cross for his sin that gets him to heaven.  "Thank you so much for teaching me this", he said.

In Riccarton, the highlight conversation was with a guy who had become a Christian only a few weeks ago!  It was a very encouraging conversation for me.  Although his language wasn’t precise, it was clear that he understood the gospel, and he was overjoyed about it!  He has a passion for evangelism, so I demonstrated the flip chart to him, which he really enjoyed.  We discussed repentance.  And he talked about the change that had occurred in his life.  We are Facebook friends now, and he said he’d be keen to join me on an outreach sometime - even if he just observes initially.

And you would be welcome to join me on an outreach - any time. :)
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday July 22, 2020 from 1300-1500

Praise and thanks God for calling Gary to join Johnny and Hung this afternoon at Sunnybank to witness for Christ. Gary made two big sign and showed it near the bus stop to both the passengers getting on and off the bus as well as attracting attention of the ongoing traffic. God definitely will use his such extraordinary acts to impress people that the message we share is utmost importance to their eternal wellbeing.

I still chose to play a less active role because of my cough that I had to keep a distance from people whom I had a chat. In the meantime, Johnny had again numerous and almost nonstop gospel sharing opportunity that he definitely would have lost count of the number. I tried my best to capture all those moments if I was not engaged in another conversation. There were again many signs of God's work leading Johnny and Gary to have very special chat to non-believers as well as to people of other faith. Johnny had a long chat with two persons from Taiwan on working holiday. And they have been quickly grabbed by the Mormon Cute but God helped to stop that two guys and let Johnny had an elaborated apologetic discussion with them, like what he had yesterday with a JHW woman. God is always at work and leads us to do what he has Willed and Planned.

As for me, I had six conversations as recap below: -

1) I followed up with a lady that Gary had approached and gave here the Chinese Tract. She claimed she got the tract before so than I asked what did she learn from the tract. She of course could not explained hence I quickly gave her a nutshell of the gospel before her bus came. ( 另一女士，聼過)

2) Then I carried on to follow up with a Chinese old couple from Guangzhou, China approached by Gary. Lucky that I did that as the husband completely misunderstood Gary thinking Gary warn him about falling branches from the tree. When he knew that Gary was actually sharing gospel with him, he shied away to avoid further chat. But his wife Madam Chen was more opened especially when she found out we are all Cantonese speaking. Again, she claimed to be a Buddhist and she has received similar tract from her Christian friends. I of course would not give up but keep sharing the gospel afresh to an extent she admitted it is clear, sensible and logical to accept. And then the bus came to end our conversation.( 陳, 廣州聽過，未信, 丈夫較僵化 , approached by Gary first)

3) Then God brought another non-believer also from China to stop for a chat. Unlike many other mainlander, she was very opened and receptive to the gospel that she claimed hearing it for the first time. She also admitted she is not perfect as such she also need Jesus to save her. While I was about to post the checking question to help affirming her redemptive faith, two of her friends suddenly turned up and kidnapped her away from me with an very obvious vicious purpose stopping her to have further chat with me. The lady was reluctant to go but still being dragged away. So this seemingly was a typical spiritual warfare attack but I believe God will have the final victory to ransom that lady from the hand of the evil one.(未信者認同接受但被朋友劫走)

4) Winnie a Vietnamese Buddhist stopped willingly to chat. Her initial mindset is to show that all religions are good. She even claimed she believes in God, but actually just Buddha which she reckons as God. But I led her to know that even the Buddha admitted he is imperfect and had sin to be punished unless some perfect one comes to save him. Winnie had no point to disagree and gradually she also was bought in to accept the logicality of the Gospel. I encouraged her to read the tract at home and prayed to God for forgiveness of her sin through accepting Jesus as here personal saviour and Lord.

5) The I caught with Jimmy and tested on his understanding of assurance of salvation I clarified last week. He answered correctly and posted several other questions about Judgement and the 2nd coming of Christ.

6) Finally I came across A Japanese girl who was in a rush to look for something. I nevertheless gave her both the Japanese and English tract. Her mind was pre-occupied by something else, but I still managed to leave the seed of Gospel in her heart.

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong Village on Tuesday July 21 from 1330 -1500

It was not yet another routine battle log. God by grace gave out some surprised divine encounters if not miracles after an initial fruitless dried period of 20 to 30 minutes. It was abnormally strange that we got 100% rejection for all the three of us as such Johnny had to resort to an extra second prayer to ask God for softening hearts and moving some elected ones to stop for a divine encounter. Believe it or not, the curse of complete rejection was lifted right away and both Johnny and Winnie started to have around 5 to 6 significant and fruit bearing conversations.

I chose to play a witnessing and supporting role on the sideline because of my cough not fully healed yet. Thus I myself only had three direct and a few more follow up chats with Johnny and Winnie as a team effort. It more so gave me a wider spiritual eye sight to see how God worked amongst us.

The work of God climaxed at the end. A Israelite Muslim man Jakob was stopped by Johnny as the last person in our 1.5 hour ministry period. He originally would have been missed out as Johnny already signaled us to quit for the day. Winnie was busy in writing her battle log note as such she failed to hear my calling for the day and started another conversation with an Aussie Lady that Johnny had just had a chat. So, Johnny could not but continue to reach out for yet another person that was Jakob. It ended up finding that he is a Jew but professing Islamic faith. Johnny was able to share the full gospel to him stressing the importance of Jesus bringing us the salvation by grace through faith. Their conversation was interrupted by a by stander who inadvertently saw me taking photo of Johnny and Jakob. So when we finally all finished and on our way back to Toowong Village for the closing prayer, Jakob waited to meet us for a clarification, God inspired me to testify to him that his conversation with Johnny was not short of a miracle as Johnny could have missed talking to him by a few seconds if Winnie did not miss my calling out to her to quit for the day. I stressed to Jakob that this was certainly a God led divine appointment and he is the elected one by God to hear the gospel without fail. We do pray that Jakob will be moved to receive Christ in His time.

Recap below are the Divine Conversation of Hung , Johnny and Winnie.

A) Hung’s battle Log

1) Robert a Fiji Man who received the tract from Winnie but did not stop. I volunteer to walk with him towards the shopping centre. It ended up finding out he is a Christian with 100% assurance of salvation.

2) While an English young couples were checking out the map after getting out from the bus , I took the chance to chat to the boy who was not sure about going to heaven as a good person. I barely had enough time to share the nutshell of the Gospel. Yet they the chat was cut short as they have to hurry for an appointment at Toowong Village.

3) Shirley an Aussie girl was polite enough to stop from listening to music on head phone but the bus cut short my sharing with only the tract being handed out to do the job as Will by God.

B) Johnny’s battle Log

1) Johnny had chance to share briefly with two young Aussie girl while they were waiting at the traffic light.

2) Then came the Significant chat with a Korean lady whom Johnny quickly noticed she is a JHW believer as she denied there is hell. The conversation lasted for a long time over 20 to 30 minutes. As that lady attempted to evangelize Johnny to her faith. Johnny anyhow had done his job to share the Gospel and clarify all the doctrinal issues with her.

3) After that, Johnny talked with an Aussie girl who initially showed reluctance to stop. But Johnny still managed to share the full gospel to her who has no religious faith and has not heard gospel before. Trust the seed of Gospel should have been sowed.

4) Then Johnny got another long conversation with an local Aussie who claimed to be a Christian of Pentecostal background but is a heavy smoker. His understanding of the Bible and the full meaning of gospel and salvation is very weak. Johnny again did his job to clarify all the misconception of that man.

5) After that, an Indonesian woman passed by. Johnny followed her to the bus stop and found out at the end she is a Christian attending Stephen Tong’s Church. So her understanding of the biblical doctrine and assurance of salvation are all crystal clear. We could only praise God for this special Christian fellowship with people of other culture.

6) It was then followed by the sharing with the middle aged Aussie Woman I mentioned earlier. She is also a Christian but later when I tried to check out her assurance of salvation, she was not certain at all. My follow up conversation with her resolved this issue.

7) Finally came the sharing with Jakob that panned out to be a minor miracle showing God’s finger prints on this divine encounter.

C) Winnie’s battle log:

感謝讚美主 今天的帶領，雖然很多人不願意留下聽福音，但神 都給我有機會向五人分享神的話語。

1) 第一是伊拉克來的學生，願意信靠主。An UQ student from Iraq who is a Muslim but after sharing was willing to receive Christ.

2) 第二是 Eric, 本地 UQ 學生，曾犯罪，聽了福音後，覺得信靠就可以得永生，罪得赦免，願意信靠主，返 UQ 教會，尋求更多真理。Eric is a local Aussie UQ student admitting having committed many sins and was rejoiced to learn that his sin could be forgiven by accepting Christ. He was willing to attend church to learn about more Biblical Truth.

3) 第三是Lily, 本地天主教徒，她説大家都是信神，沒有分别。我説基督教是三位一體的神。不是信馬利亞，靠神父。耶稣基督為救贖我們的罪，被釘上十字架上。只要我們信衪，我們的罪便得赦免，便得永生。這是免费禮物。她説會尋求更多真理，明白多的。Lily was a local Aussie student of Catholic background who has not assurance of salvation. She promised to pursuit truth for better understanding.

4) 第四是Ella, 得救的基督徒，明白救恩，罪得赦免，每周都参加聚會，每天都禱告。我给她福音單張送给她的朋友。Ella is a fair dinkum Christian with full understanding of salvation. She got some tract from me for her friends.

5) 第五是澳洲女士，基督徒，Johnny 與她談話先，後到我與她談，跟着關牧師也到來。我們三人都分别舆她傾談。關牧師詳细講述得救確據，相信她肯定明白救恩。願神带领今天聽到福音的人士。The 5th was a middle aged Aussie lady who had a chat with Johnny but was not aware by me. She claimed to be a Christian, but when Rev Kwan joined the chat, it was found out that the lady did not have full assurance of salvation which was duly clarified by Rev Kwan.

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It’s been a long, but very good week.  Writing this report is my last task before a day of rest!

It was raining in Christchurch on Saturday, so I decided to livestream some online gospel conversations instead of heading into the city (although I’m really looking forward to doing a Saturday city outreach again soon).

The conversation that stands out the most from Saturday was the last one.  It was with a young man from Georgia, which is on the east coast of the Black Sea, above Turkey.  It doesn’t cease to amaze me how easy it is to reach people with the gospel through technology!  His parents are Orthodox, but he had clearly rejected it.  Yet he was a sharp thinker, and up for a discussion.

The highlight moment was when he said, “if that’s true, then I can trust in Jesus and then do anything I want”.  I was overjoyed, he was grasping the grace of God!  And yet I was able to explain why we wouldn’t want to “do anything” if we understand what Jesus did for us, and we trust in Him.

On Sunday I had the honour and privilege of being able to preach at the meeting of Grace Baptist Church where I taught on Mark 10:17-31.  Funnily, like the last time I preached, an alarm went off half way through!  Luckily this time it was a security alarm instead of a fire alarm, so I didn’t have to finish off in the open air!

I headed into the city afterwards for a couple of hours of outreach.  I was surprised at how much the preaching in the morning had taken out of me.  So I set up my flip chart, and just concentrated on smiling and handing out tracts.

My first conversation was a hard one.  An older gentleman, a Dawkins devotee, decided to take me on.  He didn’t want to talk, just ram his religion down my throat.  I tried to reason with him, but he was so arrogant and pride filled, that I decided to just listen to him go.  And he really loved the sound of his voice.  I just listened and prayed for him.  I took an opportunity to interrupt him and ask his name and shake his hand.  And then let him continue to lecture me and tell me I need to read everything Dawkins wrote.  Finally he came to a stop, and declared he had won the argument.  I smiled, and he turned to depart, when I asked, “Brian, can I ask you a question?  Have you ever told a lie?”  He admitted he had, and agreed it was wrong.  He admitted to stealing as well.  He hadn’t murdered anyone, but when I said, “Well, Jesus said…”, he started railing again.  I let him say his piece before he finally got bored and moved on.  I said “God bless” as he did.  May the Spirit use the few words of the law that he heard to soften that hard soil.  God willing, he will have other opportunities to hear the gospel.

Soon after that conversation, I had another elderly man walk past, point his stick at me and say, “Protestant Bigotry”.  I said, “God bless you sir.”

I then had a follow up with a regular.  He now knows how to say, “I need to trust that Jesus died on the cross to pay my hell fine”.  Yet it’s clear that he doesn’t fully understand what that means, and so I had the opportunity to continue explaining.  I continue to pray for him regularly.

I had a brief conversation with another elderly man, a Catholic - who heard some of the law, but sadly not any of the gospel.

And I finished the outreach with a brief conversation with two Sikhs.  Sadly, they heard the law, and then shut down the conversation too.

I headed to my car, exhausted.  But not discouraged, because my focus is on the glory of God, and not visible fruit.  God granted me much success today in allowing the opportunities He did.  The results are in His hands.

Thank you, Lord, for saving a wretch like me!

PS, I forgot to take photo's for this report, I hope you enjoy the stagged one! :)
 

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Thursday and Friday are the busiest days for the Christchurch (NZ) team.  Thursday: two hours online, then two hours at Northlands bus stops, and then two hours at Eastgate bus stops.  Friday: two hours outside Christchurch hosptial for the gospel + abortion outreach, an hour in Cathedral Square, two hours in Cashel Mall, and then a two hour evening outreach in the city.  Tiring, but very rewarding work!  We thank you for your prayer and other support.

Some highlights of the many conversations I had on Thursday:

• Northlands: a group of five teens walk past and I politely say: “excuse me, may I ask you a question, it’s a deep question: what do you think happens after life?”  Three are not interested, but two very much are, and so they all stay for a long conversation.  It turns out that one of them is a Christian and wrestling with unanswered questions.  The focus of the conversation was some apologetics, but also how we are justified before God and the place of good deeds in the life of a Christian.  Of course, the gospel was center stage in the conversation.  Interestingly, the non Christian grasped the gospel quicker than the Christian seemed to gain clarity on it.  I could tell the Christian was really grateful for the conversation - I was greatly encouraged.

 

• Northlands: last week I wrote about a conversation with a satanist that was frustratingly interrupted.  Praise God I got to see this guy again today and was able to have a wonderful follow up conversation where he heard the gospel!

 

• Eastgate: sadly I had some very pastorally focused conversations with two people who had suffered heinous crimes of rape and abuse.  In one of the conversations the person was very bitter, and resistant to the gospel, so I just spent time doing my best to listen.  This lady seemed starved of conversation, and just wanted to talk.  After a long conversation, it came to an end, and this lady smiled, and gave me a hug.  I was honoured.  She gladly took a gospel tract from me.  Maybe what she wasn’t ready for in words, she will accept in writing?  Oh how desperately is the gospel needed in this broken world.  There is hope in Jesus!!!

 

• Eastgate: a conversation with a guy who knew a lot about Christian things, but no understanding of the gospel.  The guy was actually a bit scary, and I’m really glad Andy was with me.  Weirdly, another, very broken looking, guy interrupted the conversation wanting money for drugs!  The guy I was talking to said he could help him, and so off they went.  They both took tracts.  Oh, how unable I am to change these people.  They need Jesus!  We must get out to share the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation!

It was another difficult outreach outside Christchurch hospital.  You can read about it here.

We didn’t open-air preaching in Cathedral Square, there were kids busking.  Instead we spent the time in one to one gospel conversations.  It was great to have the OAC crew there with us.  We then moved to the Bridge of Remembrance end of Cashel Mall.  Sadly, all my conversations in the afternoon were with hard hearted resistant people.  Don’t get me wrong they were good conversations - but they just didn’t see the wonder of the gospel, or wouldn’t even let me get to the gospel.  Oh God, have mercy on the hard hearts of this city and nation.  Raise up labourers, Lord, to plow the soil and sow gospel seed!

Yet I had one highlight from the afternoon, it was a follow up with a young man I’ve talked to maybe three times before over the last year and a half.  He now works on the Convention Center construction site close to Cathedral Square.  He claims he is now trusting that Jesus has paid his hell fine.  I encouraged him to get in touch and to get involved in a local church - I invited him to mine.  I deliberately left the ball in his court.

The evening outreach was, yet again, wonderful.  Lots of people out and about - in spite of the cold and wet.  Mike and I had two stand out conversations.

The first was with a guy who had a Hindu dad, and Lutheran mum, and went to a Catholic school.  He had a real melting pot of philosophies!  But I challenged him; when you boil it all down - what is the truth?  He came to hear the gospel.  But multiple rounds of checking questions and explanations were required for it to really start sticking.  He really appreciated the chat, and left with a follow up tract.

The last conversation of the evening was on a floodlit basketball half court.  Two teens (Catholics, from Invercargill) were sitting on the court, so Mike and I joined them and had a wonderful gospel chat.  The girl said that we have to keep the ten commandments to go to heaven - that was a set up!  They quickly realised that they could never meet the standard.  When the guy heard the gospel, a broad smile of understanding came across his face - it was a precious moment!
 

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Friday afternoon's outreach online was exciting a wonderful arvo full of chats! God was very kind in who he bought across the stream!

The first conversation of the afternoon was with Miles, an older guy who had initially rejected Christianity but then saw God's existence, understood that God sets the rules and that he is guilty and that the punishment would be very severe for those who rebel against the God of the universe. Then when asked for the solution he said he had no idea but asked, "Can you tell me? What can I do to not go to Hell?" He came to understand the simplicity of the good news that those we believe that Jesus Christ took the punishment for their sin are perfect in the sight of God and may even Heaven.

He also saw that his primary reason for rejecting the good news prior to this conversation was that he'd never understood it before. He then saw that the reason he was now hesitant to believe it not because it wasn't true but because he wanted to keep living his own way. This was pointed out and he acknowledged that living his own way would not be worth going to Hell for and said he was really thankful for the chat, he wasn't expecting it but said it was very worth thinking about! He was even encouraged to read the Bible and said he would consider starting!

Another conversation was with Amy who initially professed to be a Christian but very quickly saw that she wasn't sure of the way to Heaven, in fact she was hoping in her own performance as the reason she was going to Heaven. She too saw her guilt and that her actions could not be the reason she would go to Heaven, as they were actually leading her to Hell! She then said, "There is no way for us to get into Heaven". She then heard the gospel and came to understand Jesus' offer of forgiveness and was quite surprised at it. She said that today she would believe and was shown how that would impact her life and she said she would consider it.

Please be praying for these two that their response to the gospel in the conversation would be a result of the Holy Spirit's work and therefore that they would believe the good news and as a result would love to serve God and share with other people this good news!

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Friday night in Brisbane City was greatly encouraging! It always is, you should join us sometime!

The first conversation of the evening was with Pravish. He'd chatted to the team a week earlier and not only was he able to explain the way to Heaven and how a Christian would live in light of that he also said he was trusting in Jesus! He had a Bible and said he'd had a little look at reading but was pointed specifically to John's gospel and was encouraged to check out a local church! What an exciting start to the evening!

The following conversation was with Josh. Who right off the bat shared he was very interested to talk and shared about his Christian upbringing and shared that he has aspergers syndrome which caused him to reason a certain way. After an almost one hour conversation he came to clearly grasp the gospel and was able to articulate it back and was mind blown at a God who really is God! He had always heard of God as puny, reactionary and limited by our "free will" and said it made sense that God really would be all powerful and incontrol! He was really excited, was so thankful for the chat and said he would read the gospel of John on his plane flight the following morning!

There is a very sad and continuing to unfold story with one of the other "evangelists" who comes out on Friday night. May you uphold this lady in your prayer! She once lived a life doing whatever she wanted, in total rebellion against God and His rules but upon her "conversion" a little while ago she has now jumped to thinking that cleaning up her own life, asking for forgiveness for all her sins, stopping sinning entirely and other scatterings of good works are the reason that God will accept her into Heaven. She thinks she earns Jesus' sacrifice by all these works. The problem, not only is she in grave danger of judgement, she is telling other people of this as well. Please be praying that God would change her heart. That He would not allow her to continue to spread lies, in His name but instead would cause her to become a great witness for Him!

Last conversation was with three drunk young adults. They were a little all over the place to begin with but by God's kindness they actually came to see that God exists, they are guilty and deserving of Hell and therefore that Jesus taking the punishment for their sin is the only way for them to end up in Heaven. They were challenged by this and said they'd never heard it before and said they really would have to think about it. One was more interested than the other two but they each took tracts and popped them in their pockets.

It was a wonderful time out with many other conversations. May you be encouraged by this report and it is our prayer that it would spur you on to want to come and join us yourself! Why not this weekend?

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15 July 2020

Newquay is certainly getting busier as the summer tourist season commences. For most of the year our town is small in population, but once the warmer months get here it explodes in size. This means that Newquay is a strategic town for the evangelisation of the UK; with so many tourists coming here we can impact the entire nation without leaving our community.

Just after lunch, four of us gathered at Newquay Baptist Church to pray and prepare for this afternoon’s outreach. When we arrived in the town centre we found that our regular preaching location (if one can have a regular location after a single outreach) was taken by a man who was selling driftwood art. It turns out that one of our team members, Ian, knew this man so he went to chat to him. The man very kindly offered to move his stall so that we could set up to preach. We are so thankful that the Lord’s providence allowed this man to be in the spot that we wanted and that he was willing to move.

The team began to hand out tracts while I set up my sketchboard for the open-air message. It has been over two years since I used my board so I was rather nervous as I got my paints and paper ready. My message was called, “The Way to Heaven", which looks at three wrong ways that people think will help them get to Heaven, then it looks at the one right way; the whole message uses a variety of Scripture but it is mostly based off John 14:1-6.

My nerves were rising up as I got my Bible ready to preach; if I could have, I would’ve happily let someone else take my place as preacher. Even after proclaiming Christ in the open-air for sixteen years I get nervous when it comes time to proclaim. Yet, despite my nerves I had to push forward; I needed to make much of Jesus so I began to speak, “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen…”

A small number of people stopped to listen as I painted and explained the gospel. One man named Simon asked a few good questions during the open-air which I was happy to answer. It turns out that Simon is a school teacher who teaches religion. His questions were good, but they did show a lack of understanding of what Christianity really teaches. We went back and forth for a little time over who is Jesus, and also how we got the Bible. When I asked Simon what will happen to him after death, his response was to say, “I will be worm food.” He didn’t really have any reason for this belief, it just seemed to best fit his current worldview. When Simon went to leave the open-air meeting Ian was able to chat to him and to give him literature which specifically answered the questions Simon was asking.

After my open-air it was time for George of the Faith Mission to preach. He did an excellent job preaching on “Where do we come from?” This message challenged the prevailing mindset of our culture that we are just cosmic accidents; he also clearly preached the gospel to those who would listen.

Next to preach was Nigel, also from the Faith Mission, who spoke on the love of God from Romans 5:8. It was great to hear him expound on who God is and why He loves people. It was a simple, yet clear call to trust in the Saviour.

I finished the day off by preaching from Acts 16:30-31 on the topic of “Are you asking the most important question?” My challenge was that people would consider Christ and then seek Him as the Saviour. I truly pray that many would do just that.

Overall today went very well. A number of tracts were handed out and people listened to the gospel. Please pray that many would come to faith in Christ.

SDG!

 

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