Battle Log
Thursday 23 August 2018
Posted 24 August 2018, 1:17 AM by Matthew Andersen. Permalink.jpg)
This afternoon there was another good sized team at sunny bank. It is exciting that a group of local Christians are making the outreach their own, and coming to share Christ's glorious Gospel with their demographic!
This afternoon had some exciting conversations, ones that ended in great rejoicing but also periods of tough slog. At one time, over the course of almost an hour, in an attempt to start twelve different conversations, there were twelve harsh responses. But on the back of this came one of the most glorious conversations.
As you may have noticed over the past few weeks there have been a range of very similar conversations with Muslims. In fact, there have been many more had that haven't even been shared about on the battle logs. This afternoon, a conversation was had with a young man (whose name has been forgotten to the team, but not to God). He was sitting waiting for the bus and by God's providence the bus he and his friend were waiting for didn't stop, so their stay was extended by almost fifteen minutes.
When posed with the question, "What do you think will happen after you die?", he answered by saying, "I am a Muslim". When pushed, "So, what do you think will happen to you when you die?" He answered saying that he hoped God would be merciful and let him into Heaven. Upon this the question was asked, "So what do you think Heaven is?" Sure enough the usual answer was given, a place of reward where good people get to live out their deepest desires.
This was the moment taken to explain sin. It was asked what they thought Satan's temptation was to Adam and Eve. They didn't know. It was explained that Satan's temptation was that Adam and Eve, upon eating the fruit, could be "like" God, determining right and wrong for themselves. Or in other words, living according to their own desires, rather than according to God's will. This seemed to make sense. When asked what the problem was with the Muslim view of Heaven, it was understood. Their view of Heaven was extremely similar to Satan's original temptation. In other words, their place that is supposed to be without sin, was actually a place where there would be endless sin.
It was at this moment when his friend chipped in, "but all our desires will be good." The point was made, and agreed with, that it is our desires that lead us into sin. It is our desire for sexual gratification that leads to pornography, it is a desire to watch a movie for free that leads to piracy. It is a selfish desire that leads to sin. The question was then posed, "When are our desires made good?"
They had no answer. There was no point in which our desires are redeemed to conformed to God's expectations. This was a big issue. The main engager saw the problem. His friend tried to defend their position, declaring that with freedom will come good intentions. This was quickly debunked by pointing out that the people in this world with the most money and freedom are the people who are above and beyond the most indulgent in their sin.
At this moment, he seemed to really get the point and asked, so what are you proposing? What does Christianity think Heaven is and how are your desires changed? It was explained that Heaven is a place where all of Creation will be worshiping God. Because in Christianity, Heaven isn't a reward for the righteous but a gift for the guilty.
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It is a place where desperately wicked and sinful people will be praising and glorifying the gracious and loving Saviour who did everything required for them to be present. It is Heaven because humanities greatest satisfaction is found in intimacy with their Creator, not in abusing His good gifts.
This made sense but he still was unsure how a Christians desires are changed. In God's providence, this was the moment when the bus arrived. From our perspective it seemed as an unfortunate moment BUT God was gracious to this man to let him hear the previous fifteen minutes of truth. Very quickly the Gospel, its offer of hope, forgiveness and regeneration was presented and a tract was given to this young man.
Please praise God for His timing, thanking him that this man was open to His truth and able to understand the destructive flaws and lies and what he currently believed. Please be praying that God would lead him to study the scriptures and find God's promised Christ.
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On the flip side a very similar conversation was had with a man named Christopher. He wasn't a Muslim but had simply adopted the idea that Heaven was a place of pure indulgence in sinful desires and that everyone would end up there after (ironically) being in purgatory until they had been purged of their sin.
Christopher listened to the Gospel but did not hear it. He was adamant, "I hear what you're saying but I just don't want to believe that". Even when pushed, "Are you really going to disagree with the God of this universe and all that He has said?". "Yes".
It was a desperately sad conversation with a man who was defiant in his sin and hated God.
Please be praying that Christopher will not be able to stop thinking about what God has said and desire to know Him.
Another conversation was had with a young man, whose name has also been forgotten. This guy openly admitted that his family was Greek Orthodox but he was pretty sure he was on the road to Hell.
Over the following twenty minutes, God's Holiness, sin, judgement, Hell, Heaven, salvation, repentance and belief were explained but much of this seemed to be misunderstood, even after repeated clarifications. The Gospel seemed to be lost in the mire of attempts to self-justify before God.
Please be praying that this young man would heed the advice to read God's Word (using the simple Bible study technique C.O.M.A) and with that simple technique and the illumination of the Spirit would come to know God's clear message of hope, the Gospel.
Thank you for your continued prayer support! Please be bringing those we spoke to before God in prayer and make sure you spend some time rejoicing in His kindness to us, that we although dead in sin and slaves to Satan, were made alive by His glorious grace!
View previous Sunnybank (QLD) report (16 August 2018)
Sunnybank Team (QLD)
Meets 1-3pm Wednesday afternoons at the Sunnybank bus stop on Mains Road.
Contact us for more information.