Battle Log
Sunday 6 July 2025
Posted 6 July 2025, 6:13 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
Well, we are well and truly in winter's grasp now. We’ve had to miss a few street outreaches due to weather. But that didn’t mean we had to stop the outreach - online. I still marvel at how much opportunity we have to share the gospel. The opportunity is virtually unlimited.
Just yesterday, the Holy Spirit dropped me into the back seat of someone’s car in Auckland. He was holding an implement I assume to be used for abusing substances for pleasure. Later in the chat he did indeed light it up and start puffing from it. I asked him what he thought happened after life and a conversation was away. He didn’t take it very seriously initially. At one point, he even reached over and pulled what looked like a little machine gun into view so I could see that he was a bad boy.
Yet, as the conversation progressed, I managed to trigger some serious reflection from him. He turned to the issue of evil and suffering. Why had all these horrible things been allowed to happen to him? I’d say this is the most common question I get when a conversation breaks through silliness and superficiality. I’m ready for it. I have 3 answers that I usually give in order. Answer 1) empathy, answer 2) people are responsible for their actions - they can’t blame God, and answer 3) God allows evil so he can demonstrate his justice (wrath), patience and mercy (Romans 9:22-23). In this case, my first answer: empathy caused the crack in his resistance, and he opened up to hear the law and the gospel.
It was interesting, because as I explained grace, he immediately articulated salvation by works back to me. So I pushed back with grace. The bomb hit, he understood, because he asked the classic question: “So, I can do whatever I want then?” To solidify grace in his thinking, I affirmed his question, but then explained that, as a result of grace, we are now free from slavery to sin: the drunkard will put down his bottle, the wife beater will stop beating his wife.
He was provoked to confess that he had tried religion, but that it hadn’t worked. As I asked for clarification, he gave up on me, reached out and skipped. The Holy Spirit took me away. I was sad by the sudden ending, but then I rejoiced. I had been able to plant the gospel seed! What happens to it is out of my control anyway, but my mission was complete. Glory to God. He can use that seed to magnify his justice, or he can use that seed to magnify his mercy. Either way, God is glorified. Our feeble effort is never wasted in God’s strong hands. And so, I will never get sick of this hard, often repetitive labour. I want to be anonymous. I want to put my head down and work, telling the next person, then the next person, then the next person about Jesus! Telling them about the wonderful gospel of Jesus! And I rejoice in His glory.
On Friday, we (Andy, Roger, Brian, Laura, and myself) were at the Bridge of Remembrance. A dreary day weather wise; I had my thermals on!
One special interaction stands out in my mind. A young couple went past, and we got into a chat. He was emotionless - indifferent to the conversation, and yet she was very engaged. I could tell by the look in her eyes. As she grasped the grace of Jesus, she said something that impacted me. She said, “no one has ever explained this to me”. As I write this, I’m considering my emotions. Joy, that she came to understand about Jesus. But then, anger. Anger that she has never had someone explain this simple message to her. She wasn’t resistant, she didn’t ask me any hard questions, I just stuck to the simple script.
Due to the dynamic of the situation, the conversation needed to be short - he wasn’t interested, and they obviously needed to be somewhere. But in that short time, the seed had been planted. I was able to point her to a Bible, specifically the book of John. I could tell she was very engaged, because she articulated back to me which book in the Bible she needed to start with. I was also able to point her to a church before they moved on. In the hands of God.
Lord, help me to deal with my anger rightly. Help me to be an encouragement to other believers in sharing the gospel. Lord, may your church not be distracted. Help us.
Two other conversations from the month stand out in my thinking, one was an online chat with two young guys who live in the suburb next to mine. I said to my pastor just after, that even if I had 24 hours with them, I wouldn’t exhaust the need for biblical counselling in their lives; yet, gospel seed planted. The other was a very short text chat with a guy, no religious background, the building builder analogy made sense to him and he opened up to hear the gospel. He immediately expressed interest in the Bible, so I pointed him to John when he suddenly skipped; gospel seed planted. But, I’m out of time to give any more details.
If you read this, can I ask 2 things of you: 1) join me. We offer free training. The opportunity beyond the opportunity in your everyday life (friends, family, etc) is limitless. 2) please pray for us. I want to go to heaven, I’m eager for Jesus' return, but another part of me wants to keep doing this, as tiring as it is, till I’m at least 96. I want to push my walking frame down Colombo street to the Corner of Cashel and tell the young people about Jesus.
View previous Christchurch (NZ) report (1 June 2025)
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 12:30pm - 2:30pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Sun 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (corner of Colombo St and Cashel St) - only 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays of the month.
Contact Glen Richards or Andy Barlow for more information.