Battle Log
Sunday 1 September 2024
Posted 1 September 2024, 4:33 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
God has given us another week of his patience. Another week of street outreach is complete. It was a more difficult week. I had less chats than I usually do. I was encouraged this morning, in my local church gathering, by the corporate reading of the Bible. We are tracking through Acts:
- Acts 16:14 esv
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
It encouraged me, because it's God who opens hearts to receive the gospel seed. It doesn’t depend on me. Yes, we have a responsibility to preach the gospel, but God is in control of salvation. We can rest in that. Even when things don’t seem to be going well, we can just put our heads down and continue to plough and sow. God may bring no increase - that’s up to him - his justice will still be magnified. If he does bring increase - his mercy will be magnified. Either way, we will praise the Lord. The work he does in us to obey, and persist - that also brings him glory. We can be satisfied in him alone.
Roger was sick on Tuesday. So it was only John and I out. I didn’t bring my flip chart, deciding to work at the bus stops.
I had a very large group of high school boys come to me. They wanted to make fun of the preacher. It grieves me to think about it. Because there will be a day, when they are alone, facing God. There will be no jokes then. I wasn’t put off, I did my best to engage them anyway. When they got bored, they moved on. Some wanted tracts, I said I’d give them one as long as they didn’t throw them. I think I gave out about 5. Soon after, one of them came back, and gave me back a tract - he said his friend had thrown it. Who knows, maybe one of them will keep it. Maybe in the future they will read it? The gospel is the power of God for salvation.
Later, a young man at a bus stop gladly took a tract and wanted to chat. There was an openness about him as I shared the law and the gospel. He was talking about some of the struggles in his life. Late in the chat, he revealed he had talked to me before. I think he said it was a year ago. He wanted my contact details. So I gave him my number. I haven’t heard from him as of yet. May God open his heart and save him.
I talked to a young lady who was on a break from her job in the mall. I talked to a young high school student, who went to church but wasn’t clear on the gospel - he thanked me.
Paired with John, I was able to talk to a couple of guys: 1 was adventist, and the other catholic. Later, John shared with 3 young students.
It’s funny, reflecting on that outreach now, I was able to talk to more people than I remembered. God is good.
On Friday, Roger and Andy were with me in the city. A windy day. Andy seemed to have a particularly good chat with two men from China (pictured). We also met a new open air preacher. He spoke for a long time, I listened for a bit, and he rotated over scripture and gospel truth. I was encouraged.
On Saturday, I was only out for 30 minutes. I had 1 short chat, and handed out some tracts, but it was so slow, I decided to head home and do some online outreach instead.
Sunday (today), I had Joseph and Elijah with me. First day of spring and a lovely day! Lots of people were out and about. But it was slow from an outreach perspective. At the start of the outreach, the few opportunities we had met with opposition.
Yet, we persisted, and by the end of the outreach, we had had some good opportunities to share about Jesus.
I’m looking forward to a day off now. God willing, we will have another week of his patience to be salt and light. I will also, God willing, be in preparation for the evangelism training this coming Saturday, up in Wellington. Thank you for keeping us in prayer.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (25 August 2024)
Christchurch (NZ) Team
Weekly outreaches:
Tue 3:30pm - 5:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Fri 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (Bridge of Remembrance)
Sat 11am - 1pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St).
Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.