Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 123

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday’s outreaches started with Andy preaching in Cathedral Square, while I had “walk up” Gospel conversations with people.

We then decided to make our way down to Ara (a tertiary education institute).  On the way, I had three wonderful “walk up” opportunities with young men.  The last one started with a guy on a skateboard going past, and we came side by side waiting at the lights to cross the road.  So I asked him: “Do you think about what happens after life?”.  And his response was: “Yeah, I think about it all the time”.  We ended up sitting down and having a wonderful Gospel conversation (pictured).  He gladly took a Gospel booklet, Bible, and contact details.

Andy and I both had other wonderful opportunities outside Ara to engage young minds with the Gospel.  It is a new favourite fishing spot!

Because of this, we spent thirty minutes longer in the city then normal, but we eventually made tracks to another favourite spot: the Eastgate bus stops.

My time there was mainly filled with follow up conversations with people I have previously shared the Gospel with.

Andy had a wonderful conversation with a young man claiming to be a Christian, but didn’t have any understanding of the Gospel.  When asked what the hope of eternal life was - he couldn’t answer.  Andy was able to explain the Gospel, and the young man seemed genuinely grateful for the conversation.

Near the end of our time at Eastgate, I had a long conversation with a young man who seemed to understand the Gospel, but who was not ready to submit to it.  But he asked many wonderful questions.  This conversation ended up occuring right in front of one of the bus shelters, and there was a handful of people who were listening to the dialogue, and hearing the Gospel as well.

I had ended up starting my outreach on this day ten minutes late, and I was determined that I would make it up.  But as it was getting dark and cold, I decided I would do it the next day.  But as I was heading back to the car, I changed my mind, and went back.  And I’m glad I did.  I ended up approaching a young man who suddenly looked familiar.  It was a guy who Andy & I meet a year and a half ago during a summer mission.  He had been living on the streets at the time and had been open to the Gospel.  The great news is that he is now off the streets.  He had a friend with him, and so I was able to briefly touch on the Gospel with them, before their bus came and they had to go.  But I let them know how to get in touch with me.  I was very encouraged to see him again - I’m grateful I decided to go back!

One last encouragement from the Eastgate outreach was a brief conversation with a lady who said she already had one of the tracts I was handing out.  It turns out she had received it a week early as a result of the letterbox dropping I am doing.  I was very encouraged to learn that she had read some of it, and that it had caused her to start thinking on the important questions of life.  It had partly prepared the way for me to continue the conversation with her.

Friday.  I ended up doing ten hours of outreach (one hour of which was letterbox dropping).  When I first got started in full time outreach, on Friday (usually my longest day), I would be exhausted, and could barely get myself out to do the evening outreach.  But after six months, I seem to have adjusted, and I have better physical and mental stamina now.  I thank God that He is sustaining me!

Three outreaches: the Gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital in the morning (with a team of four), a city outreach in the afternoon (with a different team of four), and a city outreach in the evening (with a team of three).  A total of eight team members were involved over the three outreaches.

For the Gospel + abortion outreach, 3 of us stood with signs, while Andy walked around having conversations with people.

At one point, a young lady ran out of the hospital (crying), down the steps past us on the footpath, and then across the road and down the street!  One of the ladies on our team went after her, and was able to take her back into the hospital where she needed to be.  That team member ended up staying with her: it was a wonderful ministry opportunity (note, the situation had nothing to do with abortion).

At the end of the outreach, 3 ladies who were angry at our presence outside the hospital took Andy on.  It was encouraging to me, because it shows that what we are doing is reaching people.  It also made me realise how much this abortion ministry really is a Gospel ministry.  Nothing removes the veil over human depravity than this.  The hatred people have towards God and the love for sin (people want to live life their way, not God’s).

Our continued hope and prayer, is that we will save precious pre-born lives from murder (by parent’s changing their mind about having an abortion), and to see souls saved through the Gospel.

This log is now too long, and I won’t be able to write about the encouraging preaching and Gospel conversations of the afternoon.

But the evening saw wonderful conversations with: three skaters, a guy from Zimbabwe, a lady who had sadly lost her husband recently and was now a spiritualist and training to be a medium, an atheist from Sydney, a young couple, a brief conversation with a man whose wife was a Christian.  All of whom heard the Gospel.

I then had a big encouragement when a guy I first met six months ago, and had talked about the Gospel with multiple times,  joyfully came up to me, gave me a hug, and said he had committed his life to Christ!  He is now connected into a local church.  How wonderful is that!  All glory to God.

The weekend outreaches are about to start.  Thank you for continuing to pray!  Our efforts will be fruitless without it.
 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Tuesday and Wednesday saw a fairly constant stream of Gospel conversations - which was great.  On Tuesday I was on Riccarton Road, and on Wednesday I stayed in Cathedral Square for both outreaches of the day.

The most encouraging interaction came on Wednesday morning when I first entered the Square.  Although cold, it was very sunny, and I spotted some construction workers having a break and enjoying the sun.  I headed towards them intending to start a conversation, but then I noticed another guy also enjoying the sun, and so, for some reason, I ended up approaching him instead (I guess my reasoning was that one to one conversations can be easier?).

So I just walked right up to this guy, and introduced myself.  I know that is a very un Kiwi like thing to do!  But how else are we going to get important conversations started?  I could tell the guy was a little taken back by this, but after a few minutes of interaction, he got over it and started warming to the conversation.

Amazingly, it turns out he was taking a much needed break away from life in the North Island, and since arriving in Christchurch on Sunday - I was the third stranger to interact with him about God!

On Sunday he had heard someone open air preaching (not from our team), and someone else had also approached him to talk about Christian things.

So in hindsight, I think his initial reaction when I approached him, was shock at yet another stranger reaching out to him about spiritual things.  God is trying to talk to him!  And this in turn was very encouraging to me (and I hope to you).

So, of course, I shared the law and the Gospel with him.  And we discussed this, and other things, for a good while.

He took a tract, and a contact card for my local church.

But I am sad that I didn’t get to talk with and share Jesus with those construction workers.  Maybe they will come across your path?  Are you ready to share with them?

Another interesting interaction crossed both days of outreach.  On the Tuesday in Riccarton, I handed a guy a tract.  And then on Wednesday, in The Square, he came up to my flip chart and wanted to do the good person test.

Well, I was already in a conversation with two ladies from Iran, so I said I’d be happy to talk, but I would need to finish my current conversation first.

To my surprise, he indicated that he would wait, and so he sat down and waited his turn!  It’s not often that I get queue of people wanting to talk to me!

But sadly, when I came over to talk to this guy, he scared me a little bit.  He wasn’t being rational, and he suddenly became emotional at one point.  I could see that I wasn’t going to be able to reason with this guy at the most basic level, so I gently backed off.  He then mentioned something about wanting a hug - something I wasn’t comfortable to do.  This was one of those very few situations where I want someone to move along.  And he did, which I’m grateful for.  But it is a reminder that I really appreciate all those praying for my protection as I’m out on the streets each day.  Thank you!

I took my lunch break at this point, and I moved to another spot for this.  I noticed the guy come back into the Square, and he had 3 other people with him.  As he walked past the spot where we interacted, he turned and pointed at it and said something to those with him.  I do wonder what he said.

The final interaction I’ll mention in this report is some encouragement about the “man who gets very angry at us every time he sees us” that I mentioned in a report last week.  He came through The Square again today and so I approached him.  He had his usual insults about Christianity to share, but today he asked for one of my tracts!  I gladly gave him one.  He then proceeded to insult the art work of it (he mentioned something about comparing it to Michaelangelo).  I gladly soaked up the insults but, to my joy, the anger wasn’t there this time.  And even better than that, he walked on still holding the tract!  Very encouraging.  I’m looking forward to seeing him again (God willing), and getting his thoughts on it.

God is good, and I’m so grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had, through your support, to share the love of Christ with the lost over these two days.  But I’d be failing in my job, if I don’t encourage you, Christian, to get involved with the great commission!  Join me :)
 

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On Sunday evening, God had sent rain to this earth, to sustain and help with the growth of the plants. This meant though that the seats were wet and people weren't too keen to sit down on the seats so the team spread around a little further to converse with people a little further apart. This was useful though as there were nine team members out sharing the good news of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.

An early conversation took place with Gilliami a Portuguese speaking, professing Christian but as usual he thought it would be his obedience that would be gaining him a place in Heaven. He was show God's standard of perfect and God's law and it didn't take him long to see that he wouldn't be receiving a place in Heaven if he was being judged on his own life. But then when talking about the sacrifice of Christ he kept trying to use this good works as leverage to gain for himself Jesus' sacrifice. He really struggled to understand that it is faith alone in Jesus' sacrifice that causes one to be right before God. He was encouraged to spend time this very night, reading Romans 3-5.

There were a scattering of conversations throughout the rest of the night but the even finished with three very encouraging conversations in a row. The first was with Dani who had some Christian background but basically just lived her own way. She was shown the problem, of sin and the punishment it deserves and was lead through the beauty and simple message of salvation. Getting to the end she said she half trusts in Jesus and it was explained that sort of belief will not save. You need to be relying upon what Jesus did to pay for your sin, otherwise you will not be saved. She came to understand this and said she would have to think about it tonight. She had a Bible at home and therefore was encouraged to read the gospel of John tonight!

Next was a conversation with Eric. He'd been speaking to another team member but wanted some extra clarification. Eric was a Taiwanese "Christian" who was worried about his salvation because he was trusting in his own actions to help him get to Heaven. No wonder he was extremely worried. He was taken through the gospel another time and was challenged with some questions to clarify and after a few goes through the gospel, checking each time if he had understood he finally seemed to get it on the third attempt. This was good news and he was then encouraged to start reading John's gospel, the letter to the Romans and to attend a local Church so that he may be built up and strengthened in the gospel.

The final conversation of the night was with Grant. Who similarly had been talking to another team member and professing to be a Christian. He was a little grey on the gospel thinking it was received on the basis of asking but came to understand that it was on the basis of trusting in Christ. The beauty of this conversation was that just two days earlier he had been discussing with his friend this very topic but they had decided to conclude that there is nothing after death.

This conversation, just two nights later came at the right time. God prepared it beforehand, so that it was still fresh and not really settled. Grant professed that today he would trust in Christ and he too was encouraged to start reading his Bible and to attend a local Church.

Please be praying for those tonight who heard. For the four professing Christians that they each came to understand the gospel properly and will all subsequently trust in Christ this very night! Please keep them in your prayer as they hopefully start their Christian journey of a life lived in obedience to God out of gratefulness to Him for what He has done.

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On Saturday night in Brisbane City it was exciting to see so many team members out with the intention of telling people what Jesus has done to save sinners.

An early conversation took place with Mark and Claudia. They said they weren't really worried about the afterlife but they said they also didn't know what was coming. They were shown that they should very seriously consider it. Firstly because it could happen at any time. Secondly they were shown God's law and realised that if they were to be judged based on how they live because God is good, they'd be heading for Hell. They were shown the seriousness but their friends arrived and they decided to head off instead of continuing to chat.

This was followed by a conversation with Christian and Jordi. They saw God's existence and were shown the bad news that because God is good they, as lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderous, adulterers at heart are heading for eternal punishment in Hell. They saw this and then said, "We're in a hurry, can you quickly explain to us the solution". They were shown the gospel and with some clarification questions and checking questions they showed that they'd understood justification by faith alone and that true faith will always be followed by obedience to God. They both took tracts, were thankful for the chat and headed off.

There was a precious moment during the night when a young lady and her son were walking past and the son wanted to know what the flip chart was about. In God's providence, as a result the boys mother was taken through the flip chart and she came to understand the simple message of the gospel. She was encouraged this very day to trust in Christ and to rely on His perfect life and sacrificial death as the only reason she'd be going to Heaven. She was thankful for the conversation, took a gospel of John and was encouraged to start reading.

Two late conversations in the evening took place. The first with Sophie who walked up to the flip chart and had a few spare minutes before work and so she was taken through the simple gospel presentation. She saw that goodness isn't judged based on comparison to others, that by God's law everyone stands condemned and therefore are headed to Hell. She then was asked what could be done and she said she wasn't sure but she came to hear the good news, seeing the imagery of the flip chart showing how Christ has stepped in and taken the punishment for sin of those who believe.

She heard clarification on the simple message that sinners are made right before God, simply by trusting that Jesus has paid for their sin on the cross and then came to understand that in response to this gift of forgiveness they will turn from their sin and instead live in obedience to God. She too was challenged with her comprehension of the message she'd just heard with some simple questions which by God's providence, due to the time limit she got right straight away! Praise God for such an exciting yet short conversation.

This was then followed by a conversation with two Muslims. This wasn't the only conversation during the night of this nature but it was hard work. The reason it is so hard is that Muslims are taught to try and convert others to Islam rather than listening to what is being said. Most of the time, instead of engaging with the challenges being placed before them as to what they are saying, they simply repeat it or say it louder. This isn't always the case and there are some very patient, humble and interested Muslims. Sadly, more often than not this isn't the case. In this specific scenario Khaled and Abdullah just wanted to talk.

The solution that worked in this scenario to enable the gospel to be shared was that, it was explained to them that the team understood Islam and what it proposes. They were given a simple yet accurate explanation of Islam to which they agreed but when they were asked what Jesus says is the way to Heaven they could not answer. On the back of this then, the opportunity was taken to show them what Jesus has actually said.

They like usual were taken through God's law, humanities sinfulness, the position sin leaves us and therefore that the only way for God to remain just and humanity to be anything other than eternally damned is for God to do something to pay for sin. They were shown what Christ did and how they can receive it by trusting that He has paid for their sin on that cross. They were able to repeat back the simple message and how it is received but they ultimately rejected it because they were sure it would be their own goodness that would get them to Heaven.

Over all, it was an encouraging night as usual. With a 100% success rate because God's word went out. Please be praying for those who heard the good news that they wouldn't just comprehend it but that they would trust in Christ alone for their salvation.

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On Saturday morning to take the opportunity the team has begun heading out to Capalaba taking the opportunity to share the good news with people who usually wouldn't get the chance to hear as they don't frequent the location on a Monday.

An early conversation took place with Tristan who struggled at first to understand the gospel. He saw God's existence and saw the he was guilty and headed for Hell but he struggled to understand the simplicity the receiving the gift of forgiveness simply by trusting in what Christ has done. He finally was able to articulate the gospel at the end of the conversation but wasn't convincingly understanding it.

A lengthy conversation took place with some JW's, Hayley and Sara who were adamant that one must do good works in order to receive the free gift of salvation. They couldn't seem to understand that grace is free. They tried over and over to argue that it must be earnt and they did so in response to thinking that Christians believe all you have to do is at one moment think that Jesus paid for your sin and then you can live however you want.

They couldn't understand that God's grace always changes those receive it. Sadly when they saw in Romans 4 that Paul clearly says justification can not be on the basis of works but is only by trusting in what Christ has done to pay for sin. When they saw this in God's Word they quite adamantly declared that cannot be the case.

Sadly they remained in opposition to God's Word but were encouraged to read Romans 3-5 in their own time and see what God has to say regarding justification.

Soon after this there was a conversation with Jacob and Chelsea. They'd hardly heard the name of Christ before let alone what He had done so they were shown God's existence, their guilt via God's law, the punishment their sin deserves and therefore their current eternal destiny.

Jacob was asked, if someone offered you a billion dollars in this life for you to go to Hell in the next at first he said yes. As this was discussed he realised what he was saying. He would trade the freedom to live however wanted for maybe eighty years for an eternity of pain and suffering in Hell. Worse yet, no one was even offering him a billion dollars, he was willingly going to Hell for the love of sin.

Jacob realised this and was reminded once more of the good news, he showed that he understood it by being able to answer some simple questions and was encouraged this very day to consider what Christ has to offer. He said he would.

Sadly Chelsea didn't really want the good news, she was happy trying to argue against God in order to justify her sin.

Please keep those who heard the good news in your prayers. Pray that Tristan would comprehend the good news and trust Christ. Pray that the JW's would heed God's word, not the ideas of man and trust in Christ. Please be praying for Jacob as well that he would obey Christ and believe and may have the privilege of sharing with Chelsea.

Do you have some spare minutes on a Saturday morning, why not come and join us in Capalaba?

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On Friday in Cavill Mall on the Gold Coast there was a pleasant atmosphere and more people than usual were willing to pause and talk. It was encouraging to see team members going from conversation to conversation of the course of the evening.

One early conversation was with a man named Harry who just struggled to comprehend the wickedness of sin and therefore the need for Christ. He just kept talking about all the good things he does. He was shown time and time again the good deeds in the future don't pay for bad deeds in the past but he just couldn't get it. He was blind to his need and therefore didn't get the gospel. Five, six, seven times it was attempted to take him through it but although being guilty by the law he just couldn't get it.

A following conversation took place with Summer. Her boyfriend was talking to someone else on the team, to keep her from dragging him off and to enable her a chance to hear the gospel she was asked the same question, "Where will you go after you die?" and in around five minutes she was taken on a very quick tour of God's existence, her sin, where she was currently headed after death and therefore that faith in Christ alone can save. She seemed to get it really quickly! It was exciting to see that in a very short conversation she was able to understand the simple message of the gospel and even answer some questions that showed that simple understanding.

Then there was a conversation with Reece and Claire who had a Christian background. They professed to be quite the experts on everything Christian but when asked the way to Heaven they were floundering. They were taken through God's existence, the law, what we deserve and the solution and came for the first time in their lives to understand the simple message of the gospel that it is by trusting in Jesus that one is saved.

When talking about the implications of this on a Christians life, addressing the question, "Well doesn't that just mean you have a license to do whatever you want", the answer is yes. But as a Christian what you want is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. They were shown that although good deeds have nothing to do with getting right before God, Christians will love to serve and honour God and give up the sin they once loved. This prompted Reece to say, "I understand that doing good doesn't get someone to Heaven but basically if I want to go there it will require me to give up sin and I don't want to".

He was warned about his declaration of rebellion against God and encouraged to reconsider because the trade of "freedom" to sin here at the expense of eternity in Hell is not worth it. They were given tracts and strongly warned about the consequences of their rejection of God.

Then there was a man who approached the group named Aaron, professing to be a Christian. When asked about the way to Heaven he said, "Be a good person". He was then also taken through the law and the gospel, the problem he was blind to his inability to contribute to his own salvation. He kept wanting to stick some good works here or there into the process of receiving forgiveness. He finally was able to articulate that it is by faith alone that one is justified but it is unclear if he actually believes that.

One final conversation worth a mention is with David and Shine, when asked the way to Heaven they both sort of said, "We know it but we don't like talking about it". They were pushed a little to explain and it turns out they are Mormons. They too struggled to drop the good works from their justification. Even though they were shown that our goodness is nothing more than dirty rags, they struggled to understand why those good deeds can't help.

They were asked many simple things, including, "What can you do that adds to what Jesus has already perfectly done?" they were shown that the Bible talks about good works as an outward result of truth faith in Christ but even though they too came to understand the simplicity of receiving forgiveness they were so stuck with actually believing that because they wanted to contribute.

Please raise Harry up in prayer that God would work mightily in him and humble him, showing the desperate wickedness of his heart and therefore his need for Christ. May the same occur for Aaron and the two Mormons that they would come to understand that they have absolutely nothing to offer God. Please also pray that Reece, Claire and Summer would heed this good news and not put it off another day but instead trust in Christ for their salvation, not just keep living their own way.

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On Sunnybank the first conversation of the afternoon was with a man and woman. When approached the man at first wasn't paying attention but it turned out that the lady was a Christian over in Australia visiting her sister (and her husband). This was encouraging to hear so the conversation was turned toward the man.

When asked what he though would happen after we die he abruptly responded, "Nothing". When asked why he simply said, "Because I believe it". Over the next short discussion it came to light that he didn't believe in God or an afterlife and he didn't actually have evidence or argument to support such claims. He was then shown how we know God exists and why this has bearing on our lives as God has given rules to live by. He was shown the seriousness of his choice but sadly the bus arrived before the law could be used to reveal sin.

There was a following conversation with three young men. They professed to be Christian but was absolutely ashamed of talking about Christ or really engaging in the conversation. It was sad to see that people who proclaimed to love the same Saviour were so scared of publicly talking about Him! They were challenged to read the book of Acts and come face to face with how the first Christians acted in light of the good news of salvation.

There were a few quick chats scattered throughout the afternoon, a young Asian couple, a young lady, Randall, Banksoon who all in about two minutes, were shown God's existence, saw their guilt in the mirror of God's law and came to understand the desperate reality of their current eternity. Each when asked about the way to Heaven had guesses which were along the lines of "be better" or "stop doing bad". At this moment for all of them their buses arrived and they took tracts and headed off.

There was a scary conversation with Jerry and man who had been spoken to before who remembered the gospel quite clearly and hadn't trusted in Christ. He had in his hands the very offer of eternal life and currently had traded it for the pleasures of this world. He was challenged strongly to not just intellectually understand the gospel but to respond to Christ, trusting in Him to pay for his sin. Some examples were given stressing the seriousness of this decision and the foolishness of trading Christ for the pleasures of this world and Jerry said he would consider it tonight.

Overall it was another successful outreach, where people who didn't know who God is or what He had done were exposed to the reality of sin, death and judgement and the beauty of God's gift of forgiveness for those who believe. Please be praying for those who heard in part or in whole the message of salvation.

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On Wednesday afternoon in Brisbane City the team were out with a desire to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light, so that others may become children of the King! That is exactly what happened over the course of the afternoon. With a focus on proclaiming the gospel God used this simple obedience of unworthy vessels to bring people to understand who He is and what He has done to save sinners!

An early conversation was with Breno. He was a deeply broken man, trying to hold his life together. He has been married for three months and is now in the throws of a messy divorce. He said that if the topic was raised only a few weeks earlier he'd never have wanted to talk but now he wanted to know. Over the course of a lengthy discussion he came to understand the good news of how Christ saves sinners and he seemed to grasp it.

It took a number of tries for him to understand as his Hindu background lead him to think that it was personal actions which contributed to our right standing before God. At the end of the discussion he said that he would open up the Bible he has at home and start reading tonight! Praise God for using the pain of divorce to open a mans ears to the gospel!

Another conversation took place with Silvester. It was a weird conversation, in that, he knew the gospel and a lot about Christianity. Sadly this meant nothing of his spiritual health as he was as dead as could be. He had no desire to attend Church or read his Bible, rather he just wanted to live however he saw fit. Because God "cramped his style" he was happy to ditch God for his own ends. He was warned and warned and warned. The conversation lasted almost forty minutes as Silvester was pleaded with, shown the foolishness and gravity of his decision and was encouraged to open up God's word today and to attend a local Church on Sunday.

He made no promises and at the end of it all was warned, that this may have been God's final opportunity for him to trust in Christ.

An exciting conversation happened with a Frenchman. Often European's are very liberal and quite proud of it and so their arguments basically range from, "I don't believe that to I don't want to believe that". But Irvin was different. He was similar in that being what he originally said but as the law and gospel was shown he was moved from apathy and rejection to intrigue. He wanted to know more. He came to comprehend the simple gospel and actually said, "That's beautiful" in response.

He was challenged with the serious call the gospel makes that although it is free, you will give up everything for the sake of Christ. He said he would have to count the cost, think about this and said he would start reading his Bible tonight! It was a privilege to be a part of his journey to comprehension!

There were a scattering of other conversations with "atheists" all five of whom preferred personal freedom over truth and despite not having arguments against God, all struggling to defend their declaration that there is no God when asked some simple questions they all ended up leaving quite quickly. Most were silenced by God's law but didn't want to know of the solution because that would require the acknowledgement of their guilt.

Over the afternoon there were many other people who heard of Christ, so please raise up those mentioned here and any others who came to understand the way to Heaven this afternoon to our gracious God that He would use this simple message to save many!

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On Tuesday afternoon at Woodridge there were again seven out on the team meaning conversations galore! So many people stopped to chat and because of the area the team were able to spread around.

An early conversation took place with Val who had a Christian background but was lost because she still was mixing Jesus' sacrifice with her own goodness. She seemed to understand the gospel being able to repeat it back as well as answer questions about it showing comprehension but she didn't seem overly moved by it. She then raised that her son has pneumonia and has now been found HIV positive. She wasn't doing this in argumentation toward God but then she raised that even worse he is heading for Hell.

This was used to point out the seriousness of her and her son's predicament. She can't offer him or encourage him with God's terms of peace if she isn't at peace with God herself. I encouraged her this day to count the cost of following Christ and to give up her rebellion, trusting in Christ alone for her salvation and to point her son to the God who saves sinners.

As the conversations from Tuesday are being reflected on to share some testimonies, it is exciting to see so many conversations took place! What a joy it is to serve the Lord!

There was Dava who with a bit of prompting was able to articulate the gospel and said that he is trusting in Christ and said he didn't read his Bible much but was encouraged this week to start reading the gospel of Mark so that the team can ask him about it next week!

Javan also professed to be a Christian but was in part relying on his obedience to help him get to Heaven. With some checking questions he came to understand the gospel and he understood the difference from what he was saying to what Jesus has said. He was encouraged to trust in Christ this very day and said he would. He was asked to have a read of Romans 3-5 to clarify the gospel.

There was another chat with Kyeisha who didn't want God to be a being, just a force. She wanted freedom to live her own way and so she rejected God's person-hood. She didn't have any reasons to believe that God isn't God but was adamant on it. Sadly the conversation didn't last long as she had to run to her bus.

The following chat with John took a similar turn, he too didn't want God to be a being, just a force. Instead of trying to show him that is foolish, the law was used to reveal sin. He acknowledged his guilt straight away and came to realise that he was headed to Hell. He was pointed to the Saviour and given a tract as he had to run for his train.

An exciting conversation to round out the afternoon was with Joe. At first he was being silly suggesting that humanity will live another life on Jupiter or something like that but then was just taken through God's law. He saw his guilt straight away and his mouth was stopped. Then he came to understand the seriousness of sin that it is rebellion against God and God says that sin deserves Hell. When he comprehended this he realised that if he died tonight and God gave him justice he'd be sent to Hell.

When asked what the solution was Joe was unsure. He had a few guesses but mostly didn't know. He was shown the glorious gospel and for the first time in his life after understanding that it is a free gift he said in his Kiwi accent, "Wow that's fantastic!" He had tears in his eyes and said he wanted to read his Bible tonight and asked for a place to read. He then asked if there was a Church he could attend locally and was recommended one!

The joy on his face as he understood the gospel was one of the most precious moments that a Christian could witness. As someone for the first time understands the gospel and by the looks trusted in Jesus alone for their forgiveness! Praise the kind and merciful God who is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love!

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Friday’s mist turned into a rain on Saturday and, sadly, this wasn’t conducive to people coming out - or if they did, to them being interested in stopping for a chat!

Yet tracts were received, and I did have two conversations.

The first was with a homeless guy I hadn’t met before.  I sat next to him and spend some time getting to know him and, of course, I shared the law and Gospel.

The second was with a young man who went to church, but didn’t seem to have any understanding of the Gospel - which I was able to explain.

I also open air preached in the rain to the few passing by.

Sunday saw the sun come out again, and with it people.  So tracts were distributed, and Gospel conversations occurred.

Two people walked passed and received a tract.  A while later, they came passed again, and before I realised it was the same people, I had offered them another tract (they responded with - “you’ve already given us one”).  Finally they came past one more time and this time I said: “I know I’ve already give you one of these, but can I ask you - will you go to heaven when you die?”.  They engaged, and we had a short conversation where I was able to reason with them about the realities of life and death - and the hope of eternal life found in the Gospel.

A man had walked past me twice on the previous day and had refused tracts both times.  But on the second time I smiled and said, “Will you get a third opportunity?  This is important.”  Well, today he came past again - his third time! :)  This time he smiled, took the tract and moved on.  But he then came back and we had an opportunity to chat.  It turns out he works in one of the shops close by.  He had a reasonable grasp of the Gospel already, but seemed to be in need of some discipling and encouragement.  He had to head back to work, but I asked him to contact me.

The outreach finished with open air preaching in Cathedral Square.  There were quite a few people about.  And I was encouraged to get a new heckler that asked some good questions.  I did my best to bring my answers back to the Gospel.  During the dialogue, I noticed a guy watching the exchange intently.  Later, one of the team was able to have a conversation with that guy, and I was very encouraged to learn he was open to the Gospel.

Yet, the preaching wasn’t without opposition.  One of the market stall owners decided to play harsh music loudly in an attempt to disrupt the preaching and later he had some ‘words’ with one of the team as they were passing by handing out tracts.

Thank you for your continued prayer for our Gospel efforts in Christchurch.  May “Christ” continue to be glorified by His “Church” as we obey His command to go.

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