Battle Log
Monday 9 November 2015
Posted 16 November 2015, 5:41 PM by Matthew Andersen. PermalinkOn Monday afternoon at Capalaba, it was fairly usual, nothing out of place, normal levels of people and completely full of people (the team included) who need the saving grace of God, most of the people just didn't know it yet. It was the team's privilege to take this amazing news of the Gospel, that Christ would die for us, despite our sin, to those who would listen and those who desperately need it.
As usual at Capalaba there is a number of people hostile to the Gospel, there are regulars who come to the bus stop at the same time every week who just despise God. Please be praying for these regulars, mostly elderly ladies who just laugh at God, they hate Him and if you even mention anything to do with God they will laugh at you or call you names.
Please commit these lost souls to the Lord, for we know God is the author of salvation and is sovereign over all who come to Him, please commit these regulars bus stop users to Christ as they desperately need the saving work of Christ, just as we all did!
During the afternoon the team talked with a range of different people, one of the more interesting ones was Frank, he was a man who claimed no 'subscription' to any major religion but was also very quick to point out that he reads the watchtower (Jehovah's witnesses buletin). Due to this, our conversation was very end times based, as the JW's take a very apocalyptic approach to eternal things.
Sadly Frank, was very scared about dying, all of the talk about end times made him very jumpy, in fact he actually had to check the conversation wasn't being recorded because he said, the government would surely kill him, if they knew how much he knew.
When the conversation became Gospel based, Frank professed His righteousness, he made claims about his own goodness, that he was surely getting into Heaven. But at the same time Frank was very scared of death, it was evident that he didn't really know for certain because his 'ticket' to Heaven was relying on himself.
As discussion was had about sin, but he was adamant that he wasn't that bad, he was talking continuously about deeds, about good works and was heavily misunderstanding God's wrath and mercy. By God's grace we were able to briefly cover the topic of Jesus Christ and Frank left with a tract in hand but he, like us all desperately needs Jesus Christ saving work!
Please pray for Frank, that he comes to a knowledge of His sin and therefore trusts in Christ alone for salvation!
Another discussion was with a guy named Jason, when asked about his goodness, Jason very quickly claimed to be ninety-eight out of one hundred. That is the highest, sincere claim of goodness that the team had encountered. A brief chat was had about what had convinced Jason that he was so good.
And Jason like us all, started listing off his works of righteousness. So we used the mirror that reveals the sinfulness of us all to show Jason that like the rest of the world, in the sight of God he was actually not good at all. The mirror of the Ten Commandments and sure enough, just like the team members, Jason had fallen short, in fact of all of the commandments he was tested against he fell short.
But there is a reason the law is important, not to prove our righteousness but rather our non-existent righteousness reveals our dire need for a saviour. That was the case with Jason, he very quickly was asking what could he do to get to Heaven and it opened a great discussion further into the fact that humans cannot do anything on their own strength to get to Heaven, in fact the only way is Jesus Christ, we were able to share.
Please pray for Jason, for Frank and for each other person that was talked to or came into contact with the team, pray that God uses these simple things to bring about knowledge of sin and therefore an understanding of the need for a saviour. Please pray that God leads these people to a desire to know about eternal things and allow them to come into contact with the Gospel!
Soli Deo Gloria!
View previous Capalaba (QLD) report (12 October 2015)
Capalaba Team (QLD)
Meets 2-5pm every Monday afternoon (except public holidays) at the bus station between the two shopping centres (next to Noeleen Street).
Contact Ryan Hemelaar for more information.