Battle Log

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On Saturday I was in the city, and there were two separate Muslim groups out evangelising.  One group from Auckland in Cathedral Square, and Two guys from the UK in Cashel Mall.  The reason for this is that it has been one year since the tragic mosque shootings in Christchurch a year ago.

I started the outreach in Cathedral Square with a chat with a construction worker.

Then I had a whole lot of teen guys come past my flip chart and show a lot of interest.  There would have been at least twelve of them, plus a couple of adults.  I was engaging them with the first page of the flip chart, challenging them on how we know right from wrong when the adults said the tour guide was ahead and they had to go.  Some of the teens wanted to stay and talk, but they couldn’t leave the group - so they took tracts instead.

Many of them were holding copies of the Quran, and related literature, which is how I first learned about the Muslims being out.

Later in the outreach, I decided to pack up my flip chart and went to talk to the Muslims, to express my genuine sympathy, and to engage them out of love.  Two young men were happy to talk, and one of them gave me a Quran - which I accepted.

I asked them the key question: how do I go to heaven.  This led to a conversation where they talked about the mercy of God.  So I asked how God can be merciful and just at the same time.  They basically said that God is not like a human judge, he can forgive if he wants to.  So I asked if God could forgo justice for the mosque shooter and just give him mercy.

After listening for quite a while, I tried to show them how God can be both just and merciful: through sacrifice.  They had mentioned Moses, so going from there I started talking about the passover lamb - and then one of the guys, knowing where I was going, became super defensive.  The shields went fully up, and the conversation ended there.  But we parted on good terms.

I moved to Cashel Mall, and that is when I came across the second Muslim group (pictured).  These guys were in Christchurch just under a year ago - and one of them remembered me as the “Ray Comfort” guy.  I was honoured that he remembered me!

I also asked this guy how God could be just and merciful but, same as last year, his answers were windy and intellectual sounding without any content.  I challenged him on this, and asked him for clear answers.  Our conversation finished up a few minutes later, and we parted on good terms.

They were on one side of Colombo street, so I decided to set up my flip chart on the other side.

I had a quick follow up conversation, and then I had a crazy guy have a go at me before getting into another good follow up conversation.

Sadly, while I was having that follow up conversation, I had two sets of people keen to try the flip chart - but there were no labourers to share the gospel with them.  Please, pray for labourers.

The outreach ended with a conversation with a man who had talked the Muslims, and then was keen to talk to me.  He was very smart, and very blunt.  Two ladies interrupted us to ask if they could ask a quick question.  I smiled and said yes.  They guy I was talking to said no!  

After directing the ladies to the tram stop (and giving them tracts), I pulled they guy up and said he didn’t need to be rude.

But the gospel conversation continued.  He processed the logic, and didn’t like it.  He heard the law, but I can’t remember if he heard the gospel - I don’t think he wanted to hear it.  It was a tense conversation, but we parted on good terms.

On Sunday I was back in Cashel Mall, and my Muslim friends were in the same spot as yesterday.

I had some good gospel conversations but, again, other opportunities were missed due to a lack of labourers.

I had a quick follow up with a guy I had first talked to a month or so ago at Northlands.  I had a great gospel conversation with an Indian couple.  And another couple were keen to talk, but had to go - accepting tracts.

A friend had recently given me some NZ million dollar tracts - I love these, but haven’t used them for a long time as Operation 513 doesn’t sell these in NZ.  To finish the outreach, I had fun handing many of these out as I walked back to my car.

Looking forward to a day of rest on Monday and then getting back to work, God willing, on Tuesday.  Thanks for your prayers!
 

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It’s been a super busy Thursday and Friday for the Christchurch (NZ) team!  I’m reflecting back on my notes for Thursday, and I can barely remember some of the conversations I wrote about!  But this is good, because it shows that God has been blessing us with many opportunities to talk about Christ.

I had seven conversations in two hours at Eastgate.  Some long, some short.  A few follow ups.

I saw an elderly gentleman for the third time.  The last time I had talked to him (at Northlands I think) he said he didn’t want to talk about spiritual things.  So when he walked towards me, I decided to take a different tack: I just spent time getting to know him - and he certainly enjoyed that.  From time to time, we would subtly touch on spiritual matters, but it was driven by him.  God willing, I will have more opportunities to see him and talk further.  God willing, he will become willing to a gospel conversation - but it’s not something I can force.

I offered a tract to a young man which triggered a conversation.  He said he was a Christian, so I used the “dagger in my back” scenario to try to find out what he understood about the gospel.  It was clear he understood that good people, that did good things would go to heaven - which was very concerning.  And so I reversed the conversation and told him what I would say to someone dying: I took him through the law and the gospel.  And he looked genuinely stunned.  His bus came, but he was torn, because he wanted to stay and talk.  I said, “hey man, I don’t want you to miss your bus, you better get going”.  But then the bus pulled out and left!  He didn’t seem too concerned, so we talked some more about the gospel.

An elderly lady was sitting waiting for a taxi, I said hello, and we fell into an easy conversation.  She was lovely!  She spoke softly, and there was a fan running just behind her, making it hard for me to hear her.  But I persisted.  We talked about wisdom (actually I listened to her share some wisdom), but the gospel was at the center of our conversation.  Her taxi arrived, and she gladly received a tract, promising that she would read it.

In my report last Thursday I mentioned that I had a follow up, at Northlands, with a young man who had been reading a tract, but still didn’t have a grasp of the gospel.  Well I saw him again at Eastgate this week - and so I was able to explain the gospel to him.  Praise God.

At Northlands, the conversations were more difficult than at Eastgate.  Many conversations I started would be ended by a bus coming!  Yet I was able to share the full law and gospel with a few people.

The highlight conversation was with a young lady who was considering being baptised.  She said it was required to be saved!  So starting with the gospel, and tracking back to the law, I explained that baptism was not required for salvation - we are saved by grace through faith.  But if we were saved we would want to be baptised.  She listened intently, and took a tract as she left.

On Friday, a team of six stood outside the hospital protesting abortion, and bringing the hope of the gospel to any who would listen.  Right from the beginning we were under attack.  Literally in the first minute three people showed their disgust with strong words!  And this continued throughout the outreach.  Yet, we did get support too, and we were able to have a number of conversations.  Andy did a wonderful job in engaging many people in conversation and handing out “Life is Precious” tracts at the hospital entrance steps.

As usual, we then moved to Cathedral Square for open air preaching.  Andy preached.  And he had some initial push back from at least one heckler (note, the sign in the picture is held by a heckler and not endorsed by us).  I had a great conversation with a young man who listened to the preaching for a bit.

In Cashel Mall, the first hour went really well.

I had a wonderful follow up conversation with a young guy I last talked to over a year ago!  As that was happening, a man who saw the Dalai Lama on my flip chart stopped and wanted to talk.  I managed to share the gospel with both of them.  But the original guy, although it was great to see him and catch up, is simply not interested (now anyway).

I had a number of other good conversations, people seemed interested in the flip chart and were keen to take tracts.

But in the second hour, I started to flag.  My legs became very tired.  How I was feeling was probably reflected in my body language, as I wasn’t able to get anyone to stop for a chat.

Eventually I saw a homeless guy I’ve been getting to know sit down to start begging in the sun.  So I went over to sit with him and talk.  I hope to write more about this guy in a future report.  I’m feeling hopeful about him.

A team of two were back in the city for the Friday evening outreach.  The highlight was an hour long conversation with a guy from the revival center - they believe baptism and speaking in tongues is required for salvation, and it was clear to me - through the conversation - that works play a role in maintaining their salvation.  We had a wonderful chat about how we are justified.  I, of course, demonstrating that it is by faith alone.
 

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On Saturday, I bought few tissue paper packs to utilise it in the evangelism. We basically said to people "if you prove yourself to be a GOOD PERSON after you are done with GOOD PERSON TEST then we will give you 2 tissue packs but if you can't we will still give you 1 pack". It was not as effective as we thought but people did engaged fairly well. 

By God's grace all the team members had interesting conversations. I met 2 teenagers who were hanging out in the city they generously allowed me to do GOOD PERSON TEST on them. As I went through the law of God and asked them whether they think they will be guilty on judgment day, one of the teenager said "No, Jesus died for me" and she told me that she was Christian but her friend was not. The teenager who was not a Christian seemed clearly convicted and challenged. I do not remember their name but please pray that they will repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ. 

From Dave Knight :- 

It was a joy to go out on Saturday evening with the team and do outreach. We had 2 flip charts going and many people stopped to participate in answering questions about the various pages on the chart. After Martin finished doing a presentation to a group I spoke to one of the bystanders and asked him what did he think about it. He said he had doubts so I asked him his name and he said “Thomas” So I asked hi. If he’d heard of “Doubting Thomas” in the Bible and he said he had. So I asked him to tell me the story and he explained what he knew about it but said he didn’t know a lot else about the Bible. I asked him what Jesus said to Thomas after He showed him his hands and feet and pierced side but he didn’t remember. So I told him that Jesus said “You saw and believed but blessed are those who haven’t seen and yet have believe”.  So I asked him would he believe in Jesus’ resurrection?  He said he would think about it. So please pray for “doubting Thomas” to stop doubting and believe. 

After This I was able to do a presentation to 3 young people named Michele, Summer and Chris.  They were quite interested and asked lots of questions, especially about son and judgement. Please pray they will continue to be convicted of the Holy Spirit who has come into the world to convict of sin and of righteousness and of judgement. (John 16:8).

From Troy :- 

If we could include these people to pray for from Saturday;

I spoke to two young Muslim ladies from United Arab Emirates. They are in Australia to study. We discussed that, though they might not have committed each one of the sins referred to in the Good Person Test, they are guilty before a holy God; and that Jesus came as both man and God to die on behalf of sinners. They recounted their understanding of the role of Jesus from the perspective of the Koran. Pray that the seed that was sown will be used by the Lord to call these two to repentance and faith.

An Indian guy and his girlfriend came to talk. We went through the Good Person Test. It appears that this guy, though he calls himself a Christian, and has a mother in India who is a Christian, is unclear about what it means to be one. Pray that the Lord will move him -- and his girlfriend though she seemed bored -- to put his trust in Christ and not in good works. 

I spoke to an intelligent, homeless guy for some time. Quite a gentle guy. He does not seem to be alcohol or drug dependent. His claim is that no one can prove that one's spirit leaves and goes elsewhere when we die. I agreed, but explained that his conclusion, apparently providing him with confidence that no one knows, does not provide certainty, that Jesus was seen by over 500 after he rose, and that if we are just just molecules, without any moral standard, he should be about the business of enjoying life, if immediate experience is paramount and we simply turn to nothing at the end of life.

Daniel and I spoke to a Fijian, Christian guy and his friend. The first guy is in the Australian Defence Force, based in Brisbane. He attends a Pentecostal church there. His friend is a pastor and they are in the process of planting a church from their denomination in Melbourne. Pray that the Lord will prosper their effort in extending His Kingdom, via their church plant, that they would reach many with the Gospel, and that it would be a church that nurtures and grows the saints in the faith.

From Daniel Supek :-

The LORD used it to show ever more of my own in dweling sins and utter hopelessness apart from Him. He showed me my utter frailty and susceptibility to the subtlety of pride, the at times, careless and ungracious words to the brethren and overall my own unsanctification. Yet also the glory of Christ and what He did for my sins at Calvary, that it is finished already, that although my sins are thus remaining, and my falls are present, yet the work of Christ is finished at Calvary. He has ransomed me. Thus is what God taught me.

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I turned up to my usual spot in Riccarton and set up my flip charting, wondering and praying about the afternoons encounters.

First up, I received some encouragement!  A bus driver had stopped in traffic directly opposite me.  The driver opened the door, and pulled a Gideon’s Bible out of his pocket to show me.  I smiled and gave him a thumbs up.  He nodded, closed the door and drove on.  To me, he was saying: “well done, I’m proud of you, keep up the good work”!

Then a guy walked past and took a tract and said that someone had already talked to him on Friday in Cashel Mall.  It was Jason!  Christchurch is a small world - encouraging.

Next up I had a young high school student surprise me by articulating the gospel quite well right off the bat - I was impressed.

I had a follow up with a lady I first met last week.  She had read the tract I’d given her, but I could tell she really didn’t want to talk about it.  So we chatted about other things for a while, and then she decided to share about someone she knew who had turned their life to God about eighteen months ago - she talked about the dramatic turn around in their life, and how she talked about God but wasn’t pushy about it… I understood, I can’t push God on to anyone.  It was a lovely chat - I hope to see her again.

I then had a chat with a guy who claimed to be Bhudist, but really just had his head in the sand in regards to the difficult questions of life.  As opposed to my previous conversatoin, I decided to be a bit forceful to try to wake this guy up.  He heard the law, and also the logic of why God and hell must exist.  But he didn’t want the good news.  He took a tract, and we parted on good terms.

Last Tuesday I posted about an interesting gospel conversation I had on the Riccarton outreach where an Indian guy got all the way through my gospel presentation saying he wanted to trust that Jesus paid his fine - but then after considering the cost of accepting the gift (last page of the flip chart) backed away. It was the last conversation of the outreach, it was a "come back" (he left but came back), and it caused the outreach to "go long".

Well, this Tuesday, on my last conversation of the day, I had a "come back" (received a tract, partly read it, and came back), which caused the outreach to "go long". This time it was with a CBHS boarder (Catholic background), and this time, even after considering the cost, he still wanted to trust that Jesus paid his "fee" (for some reason he preferred the word "fee" over "fine").

Now I'm not getting excited yet. I challenged him, that if he was serious, he was to talk it through with his parents (if they want to contact me, they are welcome). And then he was to contact me about coming along to church. He took a Bible (pictured), and various tracts. Time will tell. He is in God's hands. My gut says he needs time to consider it further, and work the implications through. Please pray for Will.

Photos, courtesy of Roger Spicer - thanks.

On Wednesday, I was in the city, most of my time was spent in Cathedral Square.

Good news!  KFC is opening up in Christchurch city!  This is the first major fast food chain to open a store since the earthquake 10 years ago.  It's a sign that people are returning to the central city - this can only be good for evangelism!

The outreach started with some good follow up conversations with homeless, or ex-homeless people that I knew.

I then got into a fascinating conversation with a young man who wasn’t shy at hiding the fact that he hated God!  I thought the conversation would die early - but he kept hanging on.  And he started to soften.  He was trying to make a distinction between us, and effectively saying his truth was true for him, and my truth was true for me.  But I gave clear arguments for why that didn’t make sense.

I was convincing him that we were equals, brothers in the sense that we were one blood before God, when he suddenly got up and approached a stranger to be an arbiter in our argument.  The stranger took my side!  And I also had an opportunity to bring the new person into the gospel conversation.  They didn’t stay long, but they did take a tract.

Even later in the conversation, a fourth person got involved - yet another opportunity to share about Christ!  He also took a tract before moving on.

By the end of the conversation, the original guy wanted to know what church I went to, and said he would come along.  I made it clear that coming to church wouldn’t make him right with good, and reiterated the gospel.  Like I said: fascinating.

The outreach ended with a great walk up opportunity with a young man from England.  He heard and understood the gospel.

As I think about it, it amazes me how many people are open enough to hear the gospel if I’m just a little bit bold in asking them a question.  Sure, I get rejected a lot, but still…  come join me in the harvest fields.

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After the gospel + abortion outreach, which I wrote about here, we moved into Cathedral Square to preach in the open air.  There was loud music, and construction noise from the nearby convention center, but this did not stop two of the team preaching.  On this occasion, the hecklers were tame.

As we were moving to Cashel Mall, I stopped a young couple to ask them if they ever thought about what happens after they die.  They looked at me stunned, and then he said that they had only just been talking about it!  They were instantly engaged.  And I was able to go through the law and the gospel with them both.

In Cashel Mall, the wind became very noticeable, the buildings were forming a wind tunnel!  So we weren’t able to use the flip charts for the whole outreach, but before I packed mine away, I had a great conversation with two guys, one from Germany, and the other from England.  They were resistant, but they seemed genuinely challenged, and became engaged enough to want to hear the gospel.  As they walked away, I asked them another checking question, the English guy, with tongue in cheek, answered with “good works”... he knew that wasn’t the right answer - I was satisfied he understood the gospel!

The outreach ended up going long, with some late opportunities to share the gospel.  Jason had a long chat (pictured), and Andy & I got into a conversation with two Indian guys (also pictured).

As always, thank you for your prayer and support!
 

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Thursday afternoon was a wonderful time of gospel ministry out at the bus stops.

For me, the outreach started with a friendly chat with my two JW friends who I often see with their stand at Northlands bus stop.  The last time I talked to them, it was declared that we were only to talk about “the weather”.  But today, they couldn’t resist and had a go at me (politely) about the trinity.  We discussed this for a few minutes, me having the opportunity to touch on the gospel and why Jesus had to be man and God, before parting ways.  I continue to pray for the salvation of this lovely couple.

My next encounter was a follow up with a man I first talked to at Eastgate (I can’t remember how long ago).  He said he had been reading the tract I gave him.  So I asked him a checking question, and sadly his answer was that we needed to “be good” to go to heaven.  I was able to explain why that was the wrong answer, but his friend turned up, and he had to leave, so sadly I didn’t get an opportunity to explain the gospel fully.  God willing I will see him again - or maybe you will have an opportunity to share with him?

My next conversation was amazing.  It was with a deep thinking young man who declared himself to be an Atheist.  But he seemed genuinely interested in the truth.  The conversation didn’t follow the usual pattern, instead it was driven by his questions.  But throughout the conversation I was able to touch on all the key concepts of the gospel.

Half way through the conversation his bus came.  He looked up, thought for a second, and then said, it’s ok, I’ll get the next one.  How encouraging!  At one point he said, “you won’t be able to convince me in ten or twenty minutes”, but by the end of the conversation I could tell he was challenged.  I made sure he knew how to get in contact with me if he had further questions.  Oh Lord, save him for Your glory!

My next conversation was also amazing.  The young man had been involved with talking to the dead, etc. so this time I followed my usual pattern for sharing the gospel.  He was deeply challenged to understand the standard for entry to heaven, and he understood the cost of trusting in Jesus.  He didn’t see the joy of the gift of Jesus - yet anyway.

We moved to Northlands, and the outreach only got better!

I approached a young man, who was a bit overwhelmed by my deep initial question.  He decided he didn’t want to talk about it - which was fine, but he was happy to take a gospel tract.

There was an older lady who had watched this exchange, and I approached her next.  It turns out she was a Christian from a sound local church.  She was very encouraged by what I was doing - she said she had already received one of our tracts.  I was able to encourage her in return.

I had a number of other good gospel conversations - mainly with high school students.  I also had a brief follow up opportunity with a lady who first heard about us through a letterbox drop!

But my last three conversations were outstanding.

A young high school student accepted a tract from me and was keen to chat (pictured).  He said he had talked to me two years ago, and has seen me around the streets since then.  He said the kids at school talk about us - and it’s not very nice what they say.  He was intimidated by this, but at the same time he was very open to the gospel.

I took him through the gospel again, and I left him considering the amazing good news, but also the cost - which he has first hand experience of (considering his friends at school).  He took a copy of every type of tract I have, plus a New Testament plus Psalms & Proverbs.  He said he would start reading it.

While this conversation was happening, I realised that I was speaking directly into a taxi parked on the curb.  The driver had the passenger side window wound down and would have heard every word I said.

After finishing with the high school student, I crossed the road and had a wonderful conversation with a Christian - about high school age.  He couldn’t clearly articulate the gospel, so I went over it with him - he seemed impacted and appreciative.  I started giving him Bible verses to look up, and he pulled out a pen and started writing them on his hand.  He seemed very encouraged.  Praise God.

I then crossed back over the road to see if I could get a final conversation before heading home, and as I walked past the taxi, the driver who had listened to me earlier, came out of his car to ask for one of my tracts!

He had an eastern religious background (Sikh) and was actually quite resistant, but he said his wife had two people coming to talk about spiritual things.  I think he heard me talking about the many Christian cults that teach that good works are required for salvation - and this intrigued him.  I also gave him a “Which One?” tract before we parted with a hand shake (pictured - perfect timing Andy!).  A very encouraging end to the outreach!  
 

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On Saturday, It was our first 3pm - 6pm outreach on this Saturday, there were lots of people in the street than usual. We met at the Starbucks and discussed why we do not use sinner’s prayer and danger that can come with it. 

By God’s grace, we had lots of interesting conversations. I met two travellers from Netherlands  (Mom and daughter). They were excited as they saw the big flip chart and engaged really well with questions and answers but when I started to share about God’s righteous judgement on sinners, they said “you know what it was really good in the beginning but this part I don’t like it” and they were about to leave so I had to quickly share the gospel with that saying “that is not the end of the story but despite all our sins Christ came and died in our place and rose again., if you repent and truly put your trust in Him Christ Jesus will forgive you” however they shook their head and went away. Please pray for them as you read this battle log. 

I met these two boys who were really polite and kind in nature, they generously allowed me to do GOOD PERSON TEST with them. After the gospel was shared I urge them to believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again for their sins.  The kid with long hair (as you can see in the photo) responded saying “Yeah I want to believe” but the boy with shorter hair did not give definite answer. Please.. Please earnestly pray for their salvation.

From Dave Knight :- 

On Saturday I worked with Liz and went to talk with people sitting on seats along Burke Street Mall outside David Jones, etc. we had a few people state they were not at all interested. However we continued to seek out folk to talk to. The first positive conversation was with a Korean couple. The man’s name was Long and his female partner was named Tu. Long did most of the talking as we asked questions and went through the flip chart with them. We were pleased they showed a lot of interest and by the end of the presentation they happily received more literature. Pray that through the words we shared and their reading of the literature we gave them that God’s Holy Spirit will convince them of their need to accept him into their lives. 

We also had a good conversation with a middle aged man named Grant. He was not interested at first but was happy to answer some questions. As we proceeded to ask questions related to the flip chat he became more interested and asked several of his own back to us. Overall the conversations were worthwhile and we were pleased and encouraged to be able to witness for the Lord and share the gospel with those who hadn’t heard it before. 

Note: I was with Liz during these times

From Huy Do :- 

During this Saturday’s evangelism, something quite amazing happened. A young man about 8-9 years of age by the name of Thomas came and wanted to take the good person test, he was with his parents and was very fervent to take the test, to which I was willing to take him through the test. During the test, as he was going through the commandments, many more people also decided to stop and watch the entire event unfold, it actually drew a crowd. This is a particularly amazing highlight because it magnifies the strength of God in using even the smallest of people to bring about a crowd.

—  

Overall it was a great day !! Soli Deo Gloria who uses unworthy servants like us !! 

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It was so good to be back to my regular routine after a busy few months that included the NZ Summer Mission and time in Myanmar.  I’ve had a wonderful week of rest and am raring to go again!

On Tuesday I was in Riccarton in the late afternoon, and on Wednesday I was in Cathedral Square / Cashel Mall in the early afternoon.  Riccarton seemed to have less people around - yet I had an eventful outreach that went thirty minutes over.  The city seemed busy when I turned up, but it ended up being a quieter outreach than usual.  It’s funny how that happens.

Turning up in my usual spot in Riccarton (cnr. Riccarton and Rotherham, outside the SBS Bank), I set up my flip chart across from a lady sitting in the seats enjoying her break.  She was curious as to what it was all about, and so I was straight into my first conversation!  Unfortunately she was nearing the end of her break and she had to go before I could really share any of the law and the gospel - but we had a lovely chat touching on the deep questions of life.  She took a gospel tract as she left.

Unfortunately, many of my interactions of the day ended up being cut short before I could really share the gospel - but most often, tracts would be taken.  God knows.  Praying that they will have other opportunities to hear the gospel… maybe from you? :)

But I did get to share the gospel a few times!  Like when a sailor from Croatia approached me for directions to a store.  After helping him, I was able to politely move the conversation to deeper things.  But I did have to go faster than I like as I could tell he needed to get moving.  I shared the bad news, and then said there was good news, did he want to hear it?  He did, which encouraged me, I gladly shared it.  I gave him two tracts, one for him, and one for his captain! :)

Next a guy came along who liked to talk about deep subjects - the conversation was going nicely till his girlfriend turned up - who was nice, but didn’t want to talk about deep subjects!  He was sad, and as he was leaving he said if he saw me again he would come and talk further… which isn't as doubtful as it seems, as I had a number of follow ups later...

Next up an Indian guy stopped, he seemed very astute and I could tell this was going to be a great conversation… but sadly, he too needed to move on, he had a bank appointment.  But he said he would come back afterwards…

I had two guys stop, one believed in heaven, the other didn’t believe anything happened after death.  I started explaining how we can know there must be an afterlife, and the conversation was heating up when two young high school students walked past, stopped, started listening, and then came back to join in the conversation.  I wasn’t able to hold the attention of the original two guys, but the conversation with the two high school students was fantastic!  In fact, one of them had partly done the flip chart before, but apparently it was interrupted by an angry bald man?  They heard the way to heaven, and were able to clearly articulate it back to me with the first checking question - encouraging!  I didn’t hold them for much longer as they also needed to go.

Another high school student stopped and heard the gospel, and while this was happening, the Indian guy who had to go to the bank came back!  He sat down and waited for me to finish with the high school student.

Once I had done that, I went and sat down with him and we had a long gospel chat (in spite of the rain that had started).  He was sharp and understood the analogies quickly - checking questions confirming.  I was feeling encouraged that this man may actually want to trust in Christ!  He even articulated so.  So I moved to the final analogy: the back pack - which explains the cost of following Christ.  He got it straight away, and his response made me sad, but also laugh… he wanted to put on the parachute (trust that Jesus had paid his fine), and then put the back pack on his front (the things he knew he would have to give up if he did so).  It’s not the first time I’ve had someone say this to me.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are many people actually trying to do that.  They understand the gospel, they want heaven and all its benefits, but they want their sin too.  They are trying to hold on to both - but it won’t work.  With the gift of faith, comes the gift of repentance.  Which will lead us to wanting to obey - no matter the cost.

I tried to work with the Indian guy to get him to realise the folly of what he was thinking.  But I watched him harden and start bringing up excuses.  I could only shake his hand and let him go.  And yet, while he has breath, there is hope.  He understood the gospel.  May the Spirit of God use that to bring a conviction of sin and change his heart.  May he have further opportunities to interact with Christians ready to share the gospel with him again.  Are you ready?

Wednesday's outreach ended not so well.  A scary guy dressed in black and wearing dark glasses took offense at some of the bad people on the front page of my flip chart.  He wasn’t all there and I just wanted him to leave.  I had flashbacks to when I had to call the police recently.  Remembering Proverbs 9:7 I didn’t intellectually engage him...  And, thankfully he, moved on!  It was the end of the outreach, and so I packed up and headed to my car.  I noticed that he had started talking to the two JWs just down a little further.  I gave one of the JWs a knowing look, and she acknowledged it.  I’m glad she wasn't on her own.

And I’m glad God is always with us (Matthew 28:20b).  Thank you for praying for the Christchurch (NZ) Operation 513 team!  Join us! :)

 

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God provided seven (7) team members this morning. Team members included Gary, Robert, James, Richard, Andrew, Pastor Hung and Col. It was great to see the whole team so enthusiastic and becoming more bold every week.

I won't go into detail about the gospel conversations we had, but we give God the glory for allowing us to witness for him. It was a great day and at the end of our time I noticed how the team was so full of joy that they had been witnessing for Christ.

No matter the outcome the team had told many about the love of God through what Jesus had done on the cross, and that's what it's all about hey !! It is so wonderful to look into the face of someone who is hearing the gospel for the first time and see the light in their eyes when they really get it.

Anyway please could you include the Redcliffe team on your prayer lists. We need God or we can do nothing.

If you would like to come out and join us, our next outreach is Saturday 14^th March.

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On Saturday the weather was beautiful and many people were out in the city compare to last week. As usual we met at the Starbucks shared the word and prayed for the evangelism, we also had few exciting news on new alternating time for Saturday evangelism and monthly practical session training night Praise God for His amazing work and faithfulness towards Melbourne team. 

By God's grace we had lots of interesting conversations. Sharindia was the lady that I encounter as I was doing the big flip chart in the city she was from India background, when I asked her if she wanted to take a A GOOD PERSON TEST she generously said 'yes' as I went through the flip chart I realised she had very post modernistic view on morality so basically 'what you feel is right then it is right or if you feel that is bad then it is bad' so in a way it was quite challenging for me to let her admit that she has sinned because GOD is the law giver and He is the ultimate stand of our morality although she stopped me here and there and showed that she does not totally agree with what I was saying she allow me to kept going with the flip chart as she was offended and convicted at the same time.

After I shared the gospel with her she told me that she was hindu and shared her polytheistic view so I had to share the exclusivity of Christ Jesus, Sharindia seems quite uncomfortable and even offended but I could clearly see that she was challenged. Please pray for Sharindia so that she may truly repent and put her trust in Jesus Christ. 

Second group of guys that I met were James and Sam. They were funny and honest with there stand point. I think it was James (I can remember the face but.. I am not sure if it was James or Sam but I think it is likely James !) that really show genuine fear as he was realising that he has sinned against King of kings and Lord of lords who showed him so much kindness and goodness. James expression often interchanged between smile and serious face in other hands Sam was quite against the message , opposing it and questioning it but they were genuine question that was driven from genuine curiosity. James and Sam both did not respond in a positive way to the gospel but I earnestly pray that they will repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ. 

From Huy Do :-

This Saturday’s evangelism proved to be blessed, as I was preaching, a crowd had gathered and afterwards, a lady stayed to talk with me afterwards. She was asking if it is possible to follow other religions and still go to heaven. I had to graciously and lovingly explain to her the exclusivity of Christ, that if there is any other way to be saved, then God would not have to come down Himself to pay for the sins of those who would believe.

She asked then again if there was any other way if she could just do good deeds to go to heaven, I stated that the scriptures testify of every man’s wickedness, that all of our righteous deeds are like filthy rags because our hearts are filthy and sinful. I explained to her how, similar to a leper corrupting every article of clothing placed upon him, all of her good deeds, because of her sinful deeds will be affected by her sinful heart as well. By the end, she was convicted, she understood her sinfulness and the message preached, I pleaded that she thinks about this.

Another conversation was with what appeared to be a lesbian couple, they were very cordial and attentive to the message of the Gospel. By the end they stated “we know that we are going to hell because we are lesbians”. This very much seems to be my experience in talking to homosexuals, many have come to me and have come to me to say that they know they are going to hell because of their sins, in other words, they know they are condemned already. Regardless, I addressed these 2 ladies, that liars will also have their part in the lake of fire, all have sinned and are under the condemnation of God, that they need to turn to Christ to have life and avoid the judgement that they know full well is coming.

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