Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 140

The first person who God brought along this week was a man who has a carer that I have spoken with several times. They had parked close to the Bible table and the Carer said to the man that he could stop with me for chat while she went in the bank. It was a wonderful time to share the news of our need for Jesus to save us from our sins and how Jesus helps in our every need. I don’t know how much he understood but he nods his head and seems to be agreeing he has been given tracts before. Today I asked if he would like a new testament pocket bible, he was so happy to receive, we opened it to look at the Lords prayer because that had been knitted in to what I had spoken to him about today. Pray for L as God can do all things that seem impossible to us and we know His ways are abundantly more than we could ever imagine.

God has His people praying for this work and we are so thankful for the connections to people in different denominations here in Warwick and other towns close by. Today a couple from Stanthorpe were encouraged to see the work of God through this ministry. We had a good chat. Then another lady from a local Church had told me that they pray every Sunday for the ministry work. How beautiful is that to know so many others are a part of this work. The church we attend are faithfully praying also and through people reading these reports we write. Thank God for the blessing to share in prayer it even crosses the oceans. We are most grateful to know that Jesus makes perfect intercession to our Father in heaven as we pray. 

I got to talk with J again from 2 weeks ago. He is the older gentleman who says he won’t believe. But again the Lord was able to challenge him through a cracked vessel like me to turn from unbelief. God helped me with speaking to J,  he always wants to stop and he says that it is good what I'm trying to do and he respects me. I think he knows that I genuinely care for him but I tell him I’m just a sign post pointing him to his greatest need. We have explained sin by the law and the grace of Jesus to him and continue to remind him with this truth in love.

Then I got to talk with a young man who said he is an Atheist. He was challenged to make sure what he believes is true. He took a “Are you a good person”  comic tract and a “ What is more important than water” tract. He told me he is from out of town for his grandfathers funeral and cut the conversation off saying it wasn’t a good time for this. As he was walking up the street he was reading the tract, he was walking slowly and I prayed to God for him to be stirred in his heart and given truth. I also prayed he might come back. So I grabbed two booklets ready to offer him just in case.  The booklets were “Where did the races come from” and “carbon dating” we had a short conversation on both these topics.

Not long after Rick and Dale arrived this man came through again! He was with another man, Rick gave the other guy a tract and found out they were from Darwin. I was able to offer the young man the booklets I said, Please look into these things, this is what we were talking about," He received them gladly, Praise God. Lets pray he will read them through carefully and check out what he believes and not just go on what the world says as it is a big lie. There is no proof at all in evolution and there is so much evidence in creation science. The great thing in these booklets from Creation Ministries is they clearly share the Gospel in with the teaching of creation. This is vital as we know the Gospel is what saves sinners not knowledge or in anything we can do. Only the work of Jesus. We pray people will be saved and given a new heart, then they will begin to understand God’s Word and know it to be true because God’s Spirit will bring understanding for the believer. Some things are stumbling blocks though and giving answers from the Bible best. We pray that this may be the way God draws them to believe.

We had a older man who lives out of town stop and hear the message of the Gospel. He was open and wanting to know the way to be made right with God to be able to enter heaven. He acknowledged his sin and hell punishment we all deserve. We explained the court room analogy about the payment of sin, justice and grace. Also the parachute analogy to the trust in Jesus alone to save us. Please pray for D he took tracts and has a Bible at home, we encouraged him to open and read the Gospel’s. We challenged him not to put off salvation as we don’t know when our last day will be and that we need to respond to God’s grace before we die.

We hope for rain in the dry places but more important we pray for the gentle washing waters of the Holy Spirit bringing life to hard and stony hearts.

Thank you for praying. To God be the Glory.

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West Country (UK) Team

On Saturday 2nd March we had arranged to meet again for outreach in Plymouth City Centre, and as I was a bit early had a coffee and bacon bap at Gregg's. A Christian lady I knew walked past and asked me a question about the book of Job which we discussed, but a man sat next to me heard the conversation, and so when finished chatting to the lady I managed to have a conversation with this man called John.

He said he was a Christian and had been to Church before etc, but didn't like religion and people trying to force their views on others. He said he watched some Christians on TBN (not best examples) and said that he had quite a past in the forces, working in clubs as a doorman etc, and with his big beard and tattoos said he had quite a few fights before he was a Christian, but now openly told people about his faith. He said that as long as someone believed in Jesus they didn't need to get into religion etc, and so we managed to have a great chat for around 15 minutes about which Jesus people believed in, wrong views of who Jesus was (JW's and Mormon's etc) and what the Bible said were the consequences of us believing another gospel (Galatians 1 v 8-9)

It was a great conversation and was able to give him some tracts to read and think about, and seemed thankful we had spoken which I believe was a great 'God-incidence' being there at that time.

I later met with George and Harry from Faith Mission, and George preached while Harry and I were the 'rent a crowd' and trying to hand tracts to people as they walked past. I ahd an interesting chat with a man from Arizona called John who had come to the UK with friends but had come to the Southwest to explore but in doing so had lost his passport, and was killing time until meeting friends at coach station tomorrow. He had to call the American embassy etc and fortunately had a copy of his passport and hoped things would improve tomorrow when he met back up with people. He was desperate to try and find an American pastor down her to speak to, but as I was unaware of any in the churches here, managed to give him some tracts to read which he was again thankful for and said would be great to remember his journey and travels here.

I later open air preached from 1 Corinthians v 8-9 which I prayed about as is quite a contentious verse among unbelievers-

'Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

I tried to show that all of us can be deceived in different ways, through used car salesman, dodgy scams online or being short changed, but the worst thing would be to be deceived about where we were spending our eternity and that living in constant, unrepentant sin would show that we were actually not saved, but that many of us try to be religious while continually living in our sin. Christians are sinners that have been saved by grace and have also formally lived in sin and now as believers can still struggle with sin, but know that is no longer their lifestyle or desire in life. God however can wash us from the inside, forgive us, cleanse us, give us a new heart with new desires and a brand new start, IF people would admit their sins and humbly come to Jesus in repentant faith to be forgiven.

I was worried a passerby may try to pick up on the verse about homosexuality, but was fine and a few people had stopped to listen who we tried to give tracts to and speak with afterwards, one older man in particular whose brother had formerally been a street preacher but who himself did not believe in a God due to all the wars etc around us.

Ed and Laura came later after I had left and had another interesting and fruitful outreach, with Harry enduring a little bit of heckling when he preached, with I believe the same guy I had spoken with earlier interrupting with the familiar "what has caused all the wars throughout history?" question before walking away not being interested in the answer.

Laura, Ed, George and Harry spoke with many different people, but in particular ask for prayers please for Hannah, a philosophy/ psychology student (can't remember which), Muriel (ex Catholic) whom we've seen before and Finn, young guy who listened for a good while while his friends hung around.

The weather was kind to us and many tracts were handed out to passers by, with us hopefully planning to go to Plympton and Exeter next week for outreach which will hopefully be good, as well as Simon and I making some new A2 posters for people to read and a 'good person test' flip chart.

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At Woodridge this afternoon the day was filled with a range of shorter conversations.

Early on an older couple were approached and asked questions, the lady had her own ideas about god and the husband was a Sikh. The lady was trying to stop the conversation at first by saying it was rude to try and tell someone else (even implicitly) that they're wrong by seeking to show them the truth.

Some simple explanations were given about the seriousness of getting God wrong and trusting in the wrong way to him, there literally are eternal consequences. They ended up hearing a brief gospel presentation and taking a tract but the lady Terri seemed only to listen out of politeness and the husband Malchus didn't seem moved by the seriousness.

Next a conversation was struck up with Lacey a young single mother who had no idea about God, eternity, sin or Jesus. It was actually extremely sad to see that someone has grown up in Australia a country where around one in twenty-five people are Christians and she seemed to have heard nothing more than the names of places and people. It wasn't even that she was willfully disinterested she just seemed to know nothing.

Explaining the Gospel was hard work but she seemed to understand. Sadly some friends came by and she was unable to continue the discussion as she was waiting to spend some time with them, so she headed off. She did take a tract though. Please pray that God would be working on her heart, drawing her to Himself!

The afternoon also had two very similar conversations in content but very different reactions from the two guys. The first was with Mitchell the second with Will. Both responded with, "Nothing", when asked what they think happens after they die. Both men where asked why they believed this and gave simple answers that could be summarised as, "Just because". Then posed with the buildings require builders analogy both saw that the universe too must have a Creator.

Will responded positively saying that is made sense and was willing to continue talking. On the other hand Mitchell all but ran away. As he saw the point coming and realised he interrupted and said, "Actually, I don't think we should talk about this, I am not the type of person you want to talk to". He saw that he was wrong and clearly so and tried hard to suppress the truth.

He was challenged slightly and was shown his motives. He realised the implications of there being a God and wanted to as quickly as possible avoid the scary reality that after death there would be a day of judgement. He was left with the seriousness of the decision he was making. It was pointed out that whilst he may be able to leave this conversation in an attempt to avoid thinking about the reality of judgement, there would come a day when there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide and his only hope will be if he has taken refuge in Christ before then.

Oppositely Will heard this and acknowledged that it made sense, he was then shown that just as the owner of the building has authority over how one should act whilst in their premises that God will hold us accountable for our actions in His world. Will was shown God's law and saw his guilt and as he was posed with the question, "What is the solution?" his bus arrived and he took a tract.

Please be praying for these two that God would use these conversations, despite the different initial responses to bring these men to a saving knowledge of the truth and not to let them try and ignore reality until it is too late.

A quick check in was had with Jay-Cee who dropped past again this week and was reminded of the Gospel and with Rachel (a young man) who had spoken to the team around a month ago and was also briefly checked in with. Please be praying for these two that God may graciously work in their hearts and cause them both to trust in Him, rather than their own ideas or abilities.

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This afternoon at Capalaba the team set out early in the afternoon to have some conversations. Upon arriving it was noticed that some JW's had set up their stand at one of the bus stations. The team prayed and split and the first conversation was had with these two ladies, Lauren and Dena.

Lauren did most of the talking. It was very sad to hear what she had to say, she didn't really have many answers to the questions posed. The first question asked and most important and central topic was, "How can someone be made right before God". Lauren listed five things, "Getting baptised, trying your best to obey God, reading your Bible, trying not to do the wrong thing and being sincere in asking for forgiveness". It was pointed out to Lauren that these were all based on human efforts.

It was pointed out to her that God's standard is perfection and that the best we can offer even in her list is a long way short of perfection. It was so sad to see that she mentioned nothing of Jesus Christ. The good news was briefly shared and she was challenged to read Romans 3-5 and to see what Paul has to say about how someone is made right before God.

Two exciting conversations were had with Damien and then Taylor.

Damien at first said that he thought there was no God. Upon being challenged with the building, builder analogy he admitted their must be a God but said it couldn't be the God of the Bible. When asked why he gave a few reasons and answers were given. It was pointed out at this early stage that it isn't primarily intellect that stops people from being Christians but rather a desire to sin. Damien then mentioned that he once was a "Christian" and that he did at one stage believe in God.

He was shown God's law as to his sin and was pointed to the penalty, the eternal Hell that he is headed for. Damien became quite sober in this conversation and wasn't being so dismissive but rather seemed to listen to what was being said. Just as the Gospel was about to be shared his bus arrived, he was given a tract and was encouraged to read and and the hope of a future conversation was mentioned. Please keep Damien in your prayers that he would read the tract and come back next week with questions!

A lengthy conversation was had with Taylor who at first seemed uninterested in talking as she mentioned that she had spoken to the team before. Taylor said her primary reasons to disbelieve in God were experiential. She had been forced as a child to learn about God, She had seen some "Christians" do some evil things and she had been mistreated by someone who claimed to know God. She was taken through God's law and saw her sin but kept trying to minimise it.

She was playing the usual game, jumping between trying to reject the existence of God and trying to argue that she wasn't that guilty. This went on through a few Gospel presentations and she seemed to understand the Gospel well. But her issue remained a love for sin. She talked about things she wanted to do that God disallowed. Then as the seriousness of the issue was being stressed another young man, who knew her came by and took her away to chat with her, which ended the conversation.

But by God's providence he hopped on his bus and she actually willing and came back over to continue chatting. She was challenged on a few more things, had the Gospel re-iterated and was strongly challenged on the seriousness of the decision she was making. Please keep Taylor in your prayers that she would heed the message proclaimed and turn to Christ as her Saviour and Lord.

One final conversation was as the afternoon came to the end the team of JW's swapped and so what was planned on being a short conversation was started with Patrina and Teagan. The conversation was initially intended to simply encourage them to have a read of the letter to the Romans, chapters 3-5. They shared that they had just read it the week before and so the question was posed, "How does Paul say we are made right before God?"

Patrina responded, "By exercising faith (doing the things the WT says one must do) and by doing good works". It was pointed out that Paul actually says the very opposite of that. The beginning of Romans 4 was read, and verse 4 and 5 were emphasised; "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness".

But Patrina then tried to argue that this simply meant that God opens the door to the ungodly by letting them enter but then they have to show worthiness through their actions. Patrina kept saying directly contradictory things, "No one can earn their salvation, God gives it as a gift to those who do good works". Sadly she couldn't see the contradictory nature of this and she tried to take the conversation elsewhere. The pair were encouraged to read their Romans 1-5 and spend some time trying to see what Paul was saying about how one is made right before God.

Please pray for the four JW's spoken to today that God would use His word to lead them away from the deceptive false teaching of the Watchtower.

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"But when God changes the heart, we are ready to count the cost..." - J. W. Searle, served at M.B.I.

The Lord gave us 4 on the team today. Natalie and Grace walked over to King Island. It seems that people were relaxed and generally willing to take tracts as they meandered over to King Island; it was low tide. Natalie noticed a lady reading the tract and opened up a conversation with her.

She was one more Christian grandmother happy to relay the tract to her 3 grandchildren. She was given 2 more tracts. Pray that the children come to see the 'sinfulness of sin' and how urgently they need to flee to Jesus and abide in Him. 

There was also an atheistic type. Pray that he remembers the gospel message and forsakes his hopeless worldview vis repentance.

Meanwhile on the 'mainland' the other couple were handing out a few tracts. Eventually they were able to chat with 2 students from Colombia; Anna, who later said that no one else in her family was a Christian and Joanna from a Roman Catholic (R.C.) family who later said she did not know the difference between R.C. and Protestants.

Going through the mini flip chart, they confessed to being liars, thieves (downloading music and not paying for it), murderers, blasphemers,  and adulterers.  On the court scene, one said she would be innocent. Why? God is love and forgives. Completing the good news, they could say that it made sense to them. they could answer the question "Why would God let you into heaven?"

When tested on the case where a Christian 'sins' and dies 5 minutes later, would God let that one into heaven, they failed and one said, "We must have to do something".  Further talk on Eph. 2:8-10 and the unique quality of Jesus work ended with them taking multiple tracts, John's gospel and assurance that they would be prayed for. Will you pray for them? They need a good role model to show them how to begin living for God's glory. 

How good is God!!! Glory to His holy Name.

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Saturday night in Brisbane city was awesome! There were 19 team members that made it out and over 50 conversations about the way to Heaven that took place!

Praise God for providing labourers and for bringing to the team people He had been preparing beforehand.

In this video you can hear Andrew share about a conversation he had with a Hindu couple who have come to Australia to do their PhD's. They had never heard the Gospel before and now said they want to know more.

Lee-Anne had a conversation with a young couple, where the guy professed to be an agnostic and the girl said she was a Christian. Through the law they saw their sin and came to an understanding of how one is made right before God.

Lastly, hear John share about how he was able to share who Jesus is and what He did to save us to a Muslim lady that stopped by to speak with the team.

Praise God for such encouraging conversations! Please be praying for those who heard the truth tonight that they would come to Christ and find forgiveness and freedom from sin.

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As the team headed to the Gold Coast last night rain was threatening but thankfully there were only a few short showers throughout the night. The team of six were able to engage in over thirty Gospel conversations throughout the night!

You can hear Ben explain how the night went and share a short encouragement for you to consider coming out with the team!

You can hear David share specifically about a chat he had with a group of late teens and how they heard the law and the Gospel.

You can also hear Fynn, give a summary and encouragement from the conversations he had.

Please be praying for those who heard the Gospel and ask God to give you boldness and time to be able to share His Gospel!

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On Thursday at Sunnybank the weather was nice and cool meaning conversations didn't only have to be confined to the shade. This afternoon's conversations were mostly short introductions to the Gospel without much more than that. When conversations are cut short it is often bitter sweet, knowing that so much more could be said but also okay, knowing that God is in control.

Today Janet, a lady who goes to a local church was challenged on the doctrine of justification by faith alone. She at first said it was praying a prayer and asking for forgiveness that saved someone. She was shown how this didn't align with scripture and came to agree, saying she would be more careful when talking about how someone is saved in the future.

Next a short conversation took place with Michael. At first he said it wasn't important and heard why what happens after death is the most important thing to consider, simply because, it will certainly happen, we don't know when it will occur and humans can take nothing from this world with them, the only question to answer is, "Where will we go"? Michael then went on to say that God would only be valuable to him if He made this life better in some way. Sadly his bus arrived and this idea was unable to be discussed.

A lengthy conversation was had with a Muslim lady named Harika. She saw the law and God's judgement and the whole time was trying to lessen the law and its penalties, even at one point going as far to say that any sin committed before one turns eighteen God will not punished because people didn't know better. In the end, although she heard the Gospel of God's justice and love Harika was unwilling to acknowledge that it made sense. She simply kept asserting that it wasn't true, without giving any reason as to why it didn't make sense.

She was also shown many aspects of her religion that relate to God's Holiness, Justice, Love and Mercy that were incompatible with each other and the claims each of those attributes makes. Sadly she was blind to see these things and was just brushing them off without consideration.

During the conversation there was a brief distraction with an older lady, who said she was a Christian but seemed to be just using the term. She didn't believe Jesus was the only way to God, she was unwilling to talk about how one gets right before God and ironically she declared that the team never speaks to older people, always younger ones. When asked if she would be willing to talk though she flatly rejected.

She was a proud woman, who had done things her own way and made up her own god and sadly was unwillingly to hear what the true God had to say. Thankfully her bus arrived quite quickly and the conversation with Harika was continued.

An exciting conversation was with a tourist named Jonas. He was only in Queensland for two hours and ran into the team at the bus stop. He knew there was a God, came face to face with God's law and saw his sin. He then quickly heard the Gospel before his bus arrived and was given a tract. It was pointed out that God doesn't make mistakes and that God seemed to have bought him to the right place to hear the Gospel during the few moments he would have an opportunity to listen and heed it.

There were also three conversation with Ishant and Meet, Avini and Naomi who saw God as Creator, were shown God's law but then the conversation was cut short by the arrival of their bus.

Lastly the afternoon finished with an extremely proud man who came to belittle and disrespect the team but was angered very quickly when shown God's law. He left without hesitation after admitting that he was a liar and being asked if he had stolen anything. His apparent self-righteousness and criticism of the team for being evil and cowardly was shown to be too ironic to bear when faced with God's law himself.

Please be praying for all those who heard the Gospel, the Law or even some simple apologetics as to how we know God exists. Please consider spending some time in prayer for those who seemed particularly open or closed that God would use this memorable conversation to bring about their desire to know Him more both as Lord and Saviour.

Please also pray and ask God to give you boldness to preach His Gospel in a conversation sometime in the next ten days!

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Tuesday and Wednesday saw 4 outreaches happening at 3 locations: in the City, on Riccarton Road, and outside the Hospital.

While on Riccarton Road on Tuesday afternoon, soon after I had set up the flip chart, I offered a tract to a lady walking past.  She ignored it and grumbled something under her breath.  I asked if she was OK, and she turned around and said something like: "It's because of you my niece couldn't get to sleep for 2 nights!".  I was shocked and confused.  She added, that I had shared with her about "that hell stuff".  And something about her boyfriend being annoyed, and I was lucky he wasn't around.  I then understood.  I responded, "I'm out to share the good news of hope for eternal life through Jesus" - before she walked off in disgust.

My first thought was that I've become unbalanced in my law / grace presentation.  But then, maybe the Holy Spirit is bringing conviction of sin into this lady's life?  I hope it is the later, and if so, that this young lady won't shake it off and return to normal thinking, but that it would lead to repentance and faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin - to the joy of knowledge of the grace of God.

Later, a man accepted a tract and stopped for a chat.  It turned out that this man was a Christian keen on evangelism, and has even open air preached Cathedral Square!  Our conversation was interrupted, when a lady stopped at the flip chart and I had an opportunity to share the gospel with her.  The man watched for a while before heading off.  But later, he came back to say that he would be in touch.  I hope to see him again.

The Wednesday morning outreach in the city was busy, with many gospel conversations in Cathedral Square.  It was nice to have some cloud cover so it wasn't too hot.

A highlight conversation was with one of my 3 hecklers from the previous Thursday's preaching (one of the genuine hecklers).  I was able to have another opportunity to share the law and the gospel with this young man.  Part way through his phone rang, and he hung it up.  It rang again, and I told him he could answer it, but he just ignored it and asked me to continue!  I'm confident he understood the message.  I leave him in the hands of God and I hope to see him again.

By the afternoon, the cloud had passed and the sun was beating down as I stood outside the hospital.  This forced me to go exploring to find a shady spot to witness from.  A number of good gospel conversations were had through out the afternoon, and tracts were distributed.

May Jesus receive the reward of His suffering.

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On Wednesday the team headed into Brisbane city. The cloud cover kept the temperatures down and made for a pleasant afternoon of evangelism. It must be noted that there is great encouragement in a local business man who spends his lunch time out in the city with the team. What a wonderful way for him to use the small amount of free time God allows him to have during the day.

The first conversation of the afternoon was also really encouraging. A local business man, Steve had been talking to his Catholic friend Akshay about the Gospel and even bought him down to speak with the team and he was taken through the flip chart and was challenged on some points. It was wonderful to see that this local business man was wanting his friend to hear the Gospel again, so not only has he been speaking about Christ himself but also was willing to encourage a dialogue with the team!

Please be praying for this pair as they have been encouraged to read Romans 3-5 together!

An exciting conversation was had with a Finnish lady named Taruk. She at first said she hoped to go to Heaven but wasn't sure if she would. She was taken through the law and saw her sin and then heard the Gospel. When challenged on what it meant to "believe" in Jesus, she said that she did. This changed the conversation slightly. It became apparent that she knew about God but seemed to be living her own way. She was challenged on a range of things and ultimately was encouraged to open up her Bible and read the Gospel of John and to start attending a local church with her housemate.

Please be praying that Taruk tonight would be bought into the kingdom of His marvelous light!

A conversation was had with Michael. It was a surprising conversation. He wasn't religious but believed in God. He was shown why God's authority over Creation is important, why God's goodness demands justice and why God's Holiness cannot ignore evil. A very exciting part of the conversation was that he seemed to have no-religious baggage. This meant that he understood the Gospel with ease.

There was no large amount of effort required to explain the Gospel different ways but it was a simple and clear presentation. He heard about Christ's sacrificial death on the cross and asked whether or not that means people can just sin as much as they want. Then he heard that we cannot because those who believe in the Gospel will be changed by it and will out of gratefulness to God, turn from sin. The conversation went like this for a while and Michael had no trouble understanding.

To finish off, the challenge was placed before him, "Who is your God"? (As this is what his name means).

Please be praying for those who heard the truth today. Also for those who took tracts or were even asked questions as they walked by. Please specifically commit these three who heard the Gospel today in prayer that God may work in their hearts and lives tonight.

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