Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 107

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Today there were two outreaches - both in the central city.  It was a cold day - winters last gasp?

For the first outreach I set up my flip chart in Cathedral Square, and I had quite a few follow up conversations with various people, and a gospel conversation with two girls from Malaysia who were Bhudist.  I was also very encouraged to encounter a young Christian on exam leave who was out looking for opportunities to share the gospel: “way of the master” style.  I was very encouraged!

To end the outreach, I decided to open air preach - as there were many people hanging around speakers corner.

In the afternoon I ditched the flip chart and headed for Ara intending to have walk up conversations.  I never made it to Ara.

I had a wonderful gospel conversation on the corner of High & Hereford Streets - with a young man who grew up in a church, but wasn’t involved at present.  He seemed deeply impacted when I explained that anger was murder of the heart.  I don’t know if this is connected, but I noticed he broke into a sweat on his forehead!  He seemed to appreciate the explanation of the gospel, and gladly took a follow up tract.

Further down High Street, I shared the gospel with a young couple, and then moved over to a group of four young teens.  I recognised one of them, whom I’ve shared the gospel with before - but apparently they had all talked to me before, and said they already had tracts!  But the girl in particular wanted to talk about it, and so a very long conversation was had where I ultimetaly explained the gospel, but was also constantly answering questions about: homosexuality, suffering, and climate change (to name a few).  By the time that conversation had finished, there was only fifteen minutes left in the outreach, and I spent that time handing out tracts on my way back to the car.  One of these outreaches, it will be good to actually make it to Ara - but High street seems to be very fruitful for conversations at the moment - praise God.

Tuesday’s outreach to Riccarton was quieter than usual.  I had a few “half” conversations, some other interactions, and handed out tracts.

The highlight was having a lady walk past who said she had already received the tract I was offering her.  I didn’t have a chance to interact, but later she came back past, and I stopped her asking her if it was that exact tract she had received, and when / where she had received it.  It turns out it was placed in her letterbox last month.  I asked if she had read it, and she had - but it had obviously had no impact on her.  But I had an opportunity now to follow up, and briefly go over the law and the gospel with her, and bring some urgency to the message in the tract.  She said she would read it again.
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Today we only had 3 Street Evangelists, namely Johnny, Col and Hung. Both Winnie and Lily got other engagements. It was an extraordinarily windy day. It affected a bit the willingness for people to stop and chat under gusty wind. But God's Work still prevailed despite of unfavorable condition.

Both Johnny and Col had got almost non-stop conversation opportunities many of which were fruit bearing ones. As for me, I continued to apply my Walk with You tactics if our targets claim they cannot stop to chat. In total , I had got 6 conversation opportunities.

1) Helen an Aussie old lady from England. She said she is a Christian and almost got the two diagnosis questions correct. But her expression still gave her away that deep down in her heart , she still thinks she is not good enough for the salvation. So reinforcement is needed as such I Walked her back home.

2) An Asian looking face, English speaking lady, possibly a Vietnamese or Korean mother with two children. She accepted the tract.

3) John a Kiwi who was in a hurry to catch a flight back to NZ. But he still let me walk him to the train station to let me share the nutshell of gospel with gratitude.

4) Prive. an UQ student from India talked a short time with Johnny. So I tried my luck to check if I can chat more with him. He thus let me walk with him to the train station kept chatting to share the nutshell of the Gospel anyway .

5) Matt is a strongly built UQ student who was also in a hurry to the UQ Library. He let me share while we walked to the train station. His attitude is polite and humble to listen. So pray for an open heart to receive Christ..

6) Chris is an IT personnel at the UQ. He is extraordinarily humble and keen to discuss with me the struggle as a Christian. I any way helped him to re-establish his faith assurance.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

How is it that I’m sitting here writing yet another log entry?  Time is going so fast.  Next thing you know we will be in eternity!

The variable spring weather seems to have passed, and we are having lovely summer days now.  It was nice on Saturday, and nice and hot on Sunday.  Both days we were in Cashel Mall.

Although on Saturday I started in Cathedral Square, but there seems to be a lot more people in Cashel Mall now on the weekends.  There were animal rights activists at the Bridge of Remembrance, Hare Krishna followers down by Colombo Street, so I planted myself in between.  Part way through the outreach, a whole lot of dogs and their owners walked through the mall.  Saturday is turning into a really interesting time to be there!

The most interesting conversation from Saturday was with one of the animal rights activists.  He loved logic and was very keen for a conversation.  But when I used logic to explain how we know God exists.  He became agitated, and then angry - I don’t think he realised how angry he was getting.  He had conceded that there must be a creator of the universe, but he was demanding to know why that creator should be the God of the Bible.  But my answers only seemed to feed his anger.  So I asked him why he was getting so angry.  He said, “you’re not answering my question”.  So I said, “well I don’t want to answer your question because you are getting angry, we seem to be stuck in a loop - maybe we should call it quits?”.  He agreed, and shook my hand before leaving - he had a tract that I gave him at the start of the conversation - and I did actually get a chance to briefly explain the hope of the gospel.

For some reason, his anger deeply impacted me.  Through experience, I’ve become used to dealing with it (it doesn’t happen often) - but from time to time it gets to me.

Sunday saw a team of four.  Jermaine had brought his two daughters out with him, and they shared tracts while Jermaine and I ran flip charts.

Early in the outreach, I offered tracts to a couple who completely ignored me.  But further down they accepted tracts from the kids, and that led them into a wonderful gospel conversation with Jermaine!

But I did have some great conversations.  One is etched into my memory.  I did a simple law and gospel presentation with a guy via the flip chart, and it seemed to be impacting him deeply.  But he was resisting.  He wasn’t convinced that it was true, so I circled back and showed him how he knew God exists and the reality of our sin dilemma.  He finally agreed that it concerned him that he would be heading to hell.  And it was then that I explained the glorious gospel - interestingly he already knew it; but the gravity of it, in context, seemed to be hitting home.  He needed to move on, but when we shook hands, he looked me in the eyes and held my hand for a moment.  He had appreciated the talk.  He accepted a tract.  I noticed some time later he came back down the mall on the other side, and received another tract from one of Jermaine’s kids.  Oh Lord, convict him of sin, and save him for your glory!  May I see him again - in your Kingdom!

 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday’s bus stop outreach at Northlands became so busy, once the high school kids turned up, that we decided to just stay there, rather than head to Eastgate.  The constant gospel conversations became quite tiring, so we headed into the mall for a fifteen minute break before getting back out into the harvest.  Very encouraging indeed.

I talked to quite a few Christians, a guy who was Coptic Orthodox (from Egypt), a guy who had been at a Catholic school for a year and was now very interested in talking about the deep questions of life.  I even had a bus driver get off his bus to have a cigarette and talk to me.  I was able to challenge him briefly, before he had to go again - he left with a gospel tract. 

But the highlight conversation was one that was interrupted - but in a good way.  I was sharing with a young lady, when a big group of students showed up.  One of them heard me sharing with her, and he was instantly interested.  He was so excited that I was sharing the gospel with her, that he interrupted me to talk about the amazing sacrifice of Jesus.  It was actually kinda awkward for the girl I was sharing with - but I was so blown away by how unashamed the guy was in talking about the amazing love of Jesus!  He didn’t care about the cost.  And what I mean by that is that he moved away to get on a bus that had just arrived, and he didn’t overhear a slightly disrespectful thing one of his schoolmates said about him.  I’m sure this brave young man gets a hard time.  I was so encouraged.  This is the attitude we should all have!  I was able to finish up the conversation with the young lady, and she also left with a follow up tract.

Andy also had many conversations, but the highlight was one with a young man who had apparently talked to me about the gospel a couple of months ago in the city.  Andy was able to take him through the gospel again, aspects of which he had obviously been pondering.  He then said he was keen to read a Bible and wondered where he could get one.  He was blown away when Andy pulled out a Bible to give him!

Friday saw a team of seven for the Gospel / Abortion outreach in the morning, and then a team of four in Cashel Mall in the afternoon (after Andy preached in the Square).

The afternoon outreach was busy: Binu handed out tracts.  Andy spent the whole outreach talking with one man (pictured talking over caramel popcorn)!  Roger had a busy run on his flip chart - including one interesting looking conversation with a large group of guys.  And I had two main conversations: one with three Catholic girls, and one with a young muslim man.

I had actually talked to this muslim man before - he had requested and taken a Bible, but couldn’t stay to talk that time.  But he had time today and wanted to sit down with me.  He had so many questions, so I needed to focus so I could get him to understand the gospel before I circled back to try to tackle his questions.  But we ended up spending the whole time talking about the gospel.  To keep him focused, I pulled out my detailed mini flip chart that I used when in Myanmar last.  And it worked a treat.  I focused on getting him to understand the important concept of justification by faith alone.  I used an analogy to explain it - and he rebelled against the concept!  He stood up and threatened to leave accusing me of saying people can trust Jesus and then do whatever they want!  I got him to sit down again and used another analogy to explain the result of our faith and a changed heart: obedience.  I managed to get this guy to work through all my checking questions with an understanding of the gospel.  I was very encouraged.  I challenged him to respond.  He left was my contact details (he still wants to ask those questions), multiple tracts, and one of my last gospel booklets.  He said he was neither Sunni nor Shai, but something else - and wanted to investigate the things that I had shared with him.  Oh God, I’ve done my best to share the gospel with him - I can’t save him.  Only you can!  Show him how serious his sin is, and how amazing your grace is.  Change his heart Lord, for your glory alone.  Lord, save all these people from their sin and hell, have mercy on our city and land.
 

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Bribie Island (QLD) Team

Saturday’s outreach was greatly encouraging as we shared the Gospel of grace with the people of Bribie Island.  There was an almost constant flow of conversations.  Most passer-by’s took tracts, and some received Bibles.  It was also a blessing to have a couple from Hervey Bay join us once again in evangelism.

  It was fascinating to see one woman, an atheistic evolutionist, ask for a Bible.  Although she did not even believe in God, she says she goes to His Word for advice in tough times.  We know that it is the Word which touches and changes hearts, so pray for the work to be done in her life.

  Pray for two teenagers, Susan and Emily, to think deeply about all they heard.  They were open-minded, and yet they had serious questions, both coming from atheistic backgrounds.  They were led through the law and the Gospel.  They seemed to understand, but they still doubted.   They each took a copy of John Blanchard's book, Ultimate Questions, as well as a tract.  They were urged to think about their own mortality and the seriousness of this matter.  They promised to do so.

  A young boy of perhaps ten also went through the Good Person flipchart.  He wanted to know why he would have to go to hell, since he had only done small things wrong (and had never even disobeyed his parents).  He was told that since his sin was against the most high God, the punishment was greater than if his sin was against man.  Three times he was taken through the Gospel and his need to repent and trust in Christ before he appeared to understand.  He also took a tract with him, so we ask you to pray for God to work on his heart.

  Four young men went to the flipchart and were asked where they thought they were going when they died.  Their answer was heaven—they were born-again believers.  They had a thorough grasp of the Gospel, which was encouraging to see.

  Kimmy also heard the Gospel, but was very much opposed.  Pray for the softening of her heart.

  Four teenage girls were approached in conversation.  Although they admitted to being bad people, they said they wanted to go to heaven because it was a good place.  They were asked whether heaven would still be a good place if God let bad people in.  They agreed that was a valid point.  They were told the good news of Christ’s death on the cross on our behalf.  They were asked if they would be willing to sell their eyes for a million dollars?  “No, of course not.”  And how much more important are their souls!  Pray for the opening of their eyes.

  Please pray for wisdom for us, for boldness, and for the right words to be in our mouth.  Pray for fruit from this outreach, that the Lord of the harvest might be glorified, and that souls might be added to the kingdom.

 

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3 Bibles were given out this fortnight. One was to a lady who walked passed and as I offered a tract she said she will stop on the way back. Most people don't return but the Lord had already planned to draw her to come and receive the most important news ever and we pray for the work of God to gift her with repentance and faith. Pray for E she has a Bible and some tracts. E told us about her up bringing. She had to go back to work but we had enough time to bring the message of law and grace to her. Praise God!

R & R both wanted Bibles, they were with us for a good while. We were able to talk with both of them one on one then we all came together at the end and went over the message to see if they had understood the vital points in the Gospel presentation. They were challenged as we went through the law and the consequences we face in our sinful state. After going through the law and they saw they were guilty and  consequently faced with the penalty of hell punishment as we all deserve.

Using the flip chart as a helpful visual we shared how Jesus suffered and died on the cross in our place to pay for our sin. Then we encouraged them both to turn (repent) and trust in Jesus as the only way to be made right in God's sight for He is the way the truth and the life. The only way to heaven. Jesus proved His power over sin and death by rising from the grave and now is seated on the right hand of the Father. He has conquered sin and death.

We talked about reading God's Word starting at the book of John, that they may come to believe upon Jesus. Why would anyone not want to be with such a wonderful God and why reject such a beautiful kind offer to be saved from hell punishment. Only He can change hearts all we can do is bring the Gospel, and keep pointing them to that trust Jesus paid for their sin - that is the greatest thing we can do. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

A Lady who we have seen numerous times came by again and we asked how she was going with the book of John that we gave her last week. She said she is not good at reading but has read a little bit. We keep encouraging her to seek after our Heavenly Father in prayer who provides all things for us and get to know Him through the reading and studying of His word.

All glory to our great God!

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

The usual team of two were in Riccarton on Tuesday.  The outreach started with some nice summer heat.  And it wasn’t long before I was into my first gospel conversation.

It was with two muslim ladies from Sudan.  I started by asking them questions about what they thought happens after life.  And it wasn’t long before they were saying that their good deeds would get them to heaven.  I used an analogy to explain why good deeds don’t take away bad deeds - it made sense to them, and so they moved to the idea of having “regret” and “being sorry” would save them.  So I again used another analogy to explain why that wouldn’t help either.  This nicely moved the conversation into a discussion about how serious sin is in the eyes of God, and the hope of the good news of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to pay our sin debt - by faith alone.  Being muslims, they became resistant to this idea.  But I just kept gently confronting them with the problem of sin and justice - and asking them how they can solve that dilemma apart from the sacrifice of Jesus.  We also talked about the fact that, although salvation is a gift, the cost is incredibly great - esp. for many muslims considering converting.  They became very thoughtful.  They said they would read the tracts I had given them before we parted ways.

Would you like to learn powerful analogies for explaining important gospel related concepts with people in your life?  We have a free conference coming up in Christchurch (NZ) on Saturday, November 9th where one of the sessions will be on this very subject.  Come along, it’s free: https://tellmechristchurch.org.nz/conference/

By the time Roger turned up, the weather was turning to rain, and the temperature had dropped significantly.  I asked Roger to guard my flip chart, while I ran back to my car to get my jacket.  I thought that, by the time I got back, Roger would be cold and wondering why we were standing in the rain!  But when I got back, Roger was in a deep conversation with two guys (pictured).  I could tell it was a good conversation - and it was!  One of them left, but the other stayed for a long chat (pictured).  He came to tears and shared some deep struggles in his life.  He was very interested in the gospel.  Roger exchanged contact details with him.

Roger ended up having a wonderful run of gospel conversations in the few hours we were on the street corner.  Another one was with a young lady (pictured) who needed to get away from some issues at home and so went for a walk and crossed paths with Roger to hear the gospel.  She was a deep thinker, and gladly received a free copy of the new testament (plus Psalms and Proverbs; pictured).

We both had many other opportunities to share the love of Christ.  Roger with a couple of Indian guys, and a high school student.  Myself with a homeless guy, a guy smoking a cigarette, and a wonderful follow up with a Christian who seems very challenged to get involved with the great commission.

And by the time the outreach had finished, the sun was out again! :)

Two Christians, spending a couple of hours on a street corner, can bring the gospel to so many.  How many more could we reach if you joined in also?  Be encouraged to get involved!  Get in touch. :)
 

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On Tuesday at Woodridge there was a team of six out! It has been exciting to see some of the smaller teams start to grow in their consistent sizes! God is raising up labourers and as a result many are coming to grasp the good news of the gospel!

The first conversation of the afternoon was with Mohit, an Indian man who willingly chose to miss his bus so that he could chat. He came to grasp the good news of the gospel and said that he would have to this day consider trusting that Jesus has paid for his sin. He heard that it is a free gift to all who believe but was also challenged that despite this gift being free, it could cost him greatly in this life, if he accepts it. He was understanding and took a tract and a gospel of John!

Around this time a man, whose name was later found out to be Luke walked by. He was asked a question but turned down the opportunity to chat as he was in a hurry to get home. The afternoon rolled on by without much thought of Luke. But whilst the team were elsewhere focused God was at work.

Through the afternoon Emil a South American came to grasp the simple gospel. He at first was hardened to it but finished by saying that he wants to think about trusting that Jesus paid for his sin today! Adam who had spoken to the team last week was reminded again of the good news and challenged to consider trusting that Christ has paid for his sin. Another professing Christian who didn't grasp the gospel had it explained to her and a man named Desi who has avoided chatting to the team for months had a chat with us and came to grasp the offer of forgiveness! But all of this excitement was finished off with the return of Luke.

Between when we had first seen Luke and now, he had gone to head home and whilst waiting for his train had been mugged. In the mugging his collarbone had been broken. So over the past three hours or so he had been in police interviews, down at the doctors surgery receiving care. But now God had bought him back for a second opportunity. This time after a humiliation and he was sitting waiting and willing to chat.

Luke came to grasp the simple message of hope. He saw how a sinner can be forgiven and even stated, "This is what my partner has been trying to explain to me for months". He was able to explain the way to Heaven back to the team and said that he would have to start reading a Bible and took a tract.

It was quite an unusual turn of events but a little cheeky sidenote must be added, with all the information at our disposal, this seems like the work of a sovereign and kind God, who would providentially allow a man to be mugged, at the hands of wicked men, according to His good pleasure, to humble him so that he would have an opportunity to hear and understannd the incredible good news that he a sinner can be forgiven.

Please be praying for Luke that he would heed this message and see God's kindness in his circumstances and be an eternally change man as a result! Please also pray for the others who heard the good news that they too would come to trust in Christ alone for their salvation!

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log : Toowong Village Tuesday Oct 29 1330 - 1500

It is one of the most enjoyable mission field I have ever engaged, not only because God gives us great variety of gospel outreach opportunities every time. More so, I can witness God's own life transformation work on me and my gospel compatriot in particular Winnie Choi. God called her and has given her the passion for gospel and empowered her to preach the gospel indiscriminately to people of all races in English and Mandarin most of the time that she originally was not very good at these two languages apart from her mother tongue Cantonese. It fits with the theory that Gospel proclamation is the work of God that we sinful human originally are not worthy to play any part but by mercy of God, He elected us as His vessel to do His work while in the mean time , we the unworthy vessel will be transformed as a tool used by God that can virtually do any great thing for His glory sake. So Street evangelism is virtually the work of God but He will elect us, train us, use us and empower us to do great thing for Him. Thus, once Winnie has mastered the basic skill and method, God and God only is her personal trainer in all these street outreach occasions. Today again she was given three complete gospel sharing chances with good result as recap below : -
a) Ryan Aussie UQ student who was moved to reconnect with Christ and to look for church.
b) Susie, an Aussie old lady was also moved to receive Christ and asked for tracts that she could bring home for her sons and daughters.
c) Tina an UQ students from India, was also convinced by the way of salvation by Christ.

Johnny and Collins both had numerous gospel sharing opportunities. Johnny in the end referred to me a person form China with a sure name same as me.

As for me, I had seven Gospel sharing opportunity as recap below with two stood out ones. One was with a Russian UQ lecturer and a UQ student from China of my same sure name.

1) Ben an UQ student from Malaysia who knows a little about Christ but not yet a Christian. I walked to the shopping centre with him so as to share the full gospel.

2) Melissa, a lady I shared gospel before passed by and greeted me to thank for what I shared with her.

3) May an UQ Master Degree student from China but did her undergraduate in USA uni. She later disclosed she actually is a Christian and was baptised in USA. But she knows very little about God and appeared having not read Bible a lot. Thus, she failed the Christian Salvation Assurance test. I greatly recommended her to get back to God and to connect with Christian community likes Power to Change which she acknowledges such need.

4) Jack an UQ Aussie student. He has no religious belief but showed strong body language inviting me to chat with him and finally appeared very receptive to the gospel.

5) Vladimir Kruglov is an Russian UQ professor of Department of Physic. He claimed to be a Christian but in the mean time, he explores other religions like Buddhism and Hinduism as a means for transcendent peace. So in fact he is just a nominal Christian by birth but has no real redemptive faith. Obviously, he has gone astray for a wrong way for salvation. He has a false confidence that through training of heart and mind by practicing Karate , he can venture spiritual adventure sighting spirits in spiritual realm. I just pray for him and hope we can have another chance to chat. But I gave him the name card of Kenneth Chan who is the worker of Power to Change for Faculty member of UQ.

6) A nameless Chinese UQ student who was reluctant to chat but still I walked her to the bus stop and finished the gospel sharing. Eventually I also refereed her to Power to Change.

7) 關浩翔 Ho Cheng Kwan from 開平, China. He initially was approached by Johnny but was referred to me when noticed he shares the same Sure Name of mine and is Cantonese speaking. He appeared very sincere and became very receptive to the gospel. He admitted while managing to be a good person, he so far could not resist the sin of lust like most of the young people. He showed great urge to receive Christ in getting his sin be pardoned so that he can be a free person again in Christ.

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On Thursday afternoon a team of six were out at Sunnybank. It was a usual afternoon with many short conversations. Some people came to grasp the good news and responded positively. Others heard it and there wasn't time to check if they remembered it. Some saw little snippets of God's existence and the law but most excitingly God and His sovereign will was on display.

There was a conversation that took place around 3:30 in the afternoon with a young lady named Kimeal. She said she regularly goes to a Catholic church each sunday and when asked what she thought the way to Heaven was in relation to the ten commandments. She said her church had been going through a series on the ten commandments and now she was learning what she must do in order to get to Heaven. It was all about works. She was shown the ten commandments and her guilt and her face started to look very worried as she realised she had totally failed God's law. Then her bus arrived. She tossed up whether to stay and chat but ended up leaving because she had to go.

The rest of the afternoon went by and a scattering of other conversations took place but after dinner as usual the team headed into Brisbane City. At around 8:30pm the renovation works in King George Square were so loud that the team migrated into the Queen St mall to have some conversations. There again were some exciting and encouraging conversations. But just after 9pm, on the return trip from the bathroom Kimeal was spotted walking towards the team. She realised who I was and then we proceeded to chat.

Over the course of the conversation she came to grasp the desperate position she is in before God, that if she died this day and God gave her justice she would be sent to Hell and therefore that she had only one hope, a full and free pardon, not that she could earn but that was given to her. Kimeal came to grasp the glorious gospel and with tears in her eyes and joy in her voice shared that she had never heard this before and was so excited that there was a solution!

She professed that from this moment onwards she would trust that Jesus has paid for her sin and that is the only reason she is going to Heaven! She took a gospel of John and was encouraged to read it and said she would get her hands on a proper Bible and reads Romans sometime. She was very greatful and thanked me. She noted that she didn't think this was an accident and God had clearly planned this double encounter.

Please be praying for Kimeal that she would start to see that problems in her Catholic church and instead start looking for a Church that will preach God's Word not man's ideas. Please also be praying that she would grow in her depth and understanding as she spends time in the word each day!

What an exciting day of outreach, may God receive the praise for all that He has done through unworthy servants!

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