Battle Log

Sunday 14 September 2008

Posted by Posted 19 September 2008, 11:58 PM by Josh Mitchell. Permalink

Having spent time in prayer, Snowy, Hemelaar and myself headed over to begin preaching. It was a beautiful afternoon to be granted the opportunity to share God's offer of salvation to perishing men and women.

I have been quite sick with a bronchitis type cough of late, so I was quite pleased to have Ryan and Snowy with me, to preach in my place.

It was a bit windy today, however Ryan did a really good job of preaching anyway. Quite a few people stopped to listen. As Ryan was debating a young British fellow, his friend tried to distract him, so I offered him a comic gospel tract, "This was your life". He began asking questions, about what we were doing, and so I told him. Justin has had a religious background, but didn't seem to understand the gospel very well. I did my best to explain it to him, and he was very appreciative. He left church at a young age, but was quite open to what we spoke about. He let me take a photo of him, so please pray for this young man, that God uses what he has heard and seen to the end he might come to Christ for God's glory.

Ryan having done a wonderful job doing the initial ground breaking work in preaching, handed over to Snowy who was backup preacher today. Snowy began to preach, a little quietly and less confidently at first, but then as people began to engage him, his speech began to flow really well. It was actually quite interesting watching how the Holy Spirit was using Snowy to share the gospel and answer questions with so many people.

Almost as soon as Snowy started, someone wanted to talk to him, but after a short period of time, all the friends of this heckler tried to get him to leave. He left, but Snowy asked the passersby if anyone professed personal goodness. One more popped up and Snow was off again. He was quite gentle in the way he shared with people, which is important for sharing the gospel in a family environment, but he didn't hold back on the truth, which most Aussies appreciate!

In almost no time, the young people gathered to listen began to ask lots of foolish questions. Snow did a fairly good job of defending the biblical worldview.

 

One guy even jumped up behind Snow, to try to make a fool of him, but it only gave a reason for more people to stop and listen to the dialogues being had!

Ryan jumped up and continued to answer the questions. Big crowds started to build up as answers were given, and people were drawn by God to listen. Thankfully we didn't need to stop for safety reasons, as those gathered sensibly left a large passage for other pedestrians to get from one side of the beach entrance to the other.

Ryan did a good job presenting the biblical worldview, refuting dodgy claims against the gospel. Like Snowy, he kept returning the conversations back to the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which made me really proud of them.

At one point, the some of the young hecklers from Snowy's crowd who remained to hear Ryan, asked for a bible to look up a passage. I gave them mine, however a man told me to take it back from them, since they kept mocking God, and were not being serious about Jesus. I did take it back, but you can see them hear on the left reading it. May God use what their optical senses saw, to help them come before His presence tonight.

After a while we stepped down and handed out gospel tracts one 2 one, and the fella's began witnessing. I came across two chaps called John and Caesar. Caesar the fellow on the right believed in heaven and hell, but his friend was quite opposed to the idea. However he tried to argue that Gandhi would be in heaven, because he accepted Jesus as a great teacher, and did good works like attempting to lift social oppression against people.

Clearly it was an argument for self-righteous access to heaven, so we looked at Gandhi as a sinner, and the lads as sinners, and that no sinner can get to heaven by their merits, deserving justice. The lads were really nice in their dialogue with me, though John kept defending his good works until finally conceding all men deserve hell. Please pray for John and Caesar, that God would grant them repentance and faith as he sees fit.

Lots of tracts went out, and it was a great opportunity for the gospel. You must come and help us when you can, we would love to have your help!

For Jesus name,

josh mitchell

PS. Thanks to God for Ryan and Snow, that promoted God's name today!

 

View previous Gold Coast (QLD) report (7 September 2008)


Gold Coast

Gold Coast Team (QLD)

Meets 7:15-10pm Friday nights at Surfers Paradise on Cavill Avenue.

Contact Ryan Hemelaar for more information.